THE  WHIG  PARTY 


SATER 


JLCSJB  LlBRAIft 


THE  WHIG  PARTY 

A  PAPER 

READ  BEFORE  THE  KIT-KAT  CLUB 
ON  THURSDAY,   FEBRUARY  3,1916 

By 
LOWRY  F.  SATER 

WITH  A  FOREWORD  BY 
JAMES  E.  CAMPBELL 

Former  Governor  of  Ohio 


OF  THIS   PAPER   TWO   HUNDRED   COPIES 

WEREPRINTEDIN  DECEMBER  NINETEEN 

SIXTEEN,  EACH    BEING  NUMBERED  AND 

SIGNED,  THIS   BEING  NUMBER 


Foreword 

MR.  SATER'S  admirable  essay  upon  the  Whig 
Party  deserves  more  than  a  mere  perusal.    As  a 
concise  yet  complete  epitome  of  some  of  the 
most  interesting  eras  in  American  history,  it  is  worthy 
of  careful  study.    His  keen  judgment  of  men  and  affairs, 
and  his  absolute  impartiality  in  dealing  with  a  political 
party  of  which  his  people  were  hereditary  foes,  are 
beyond  praise;  while  his  copious  and  well  chosen  vocab- 
ulary has  made  his  treatise  a  delightful  classic. 

The  fact,  not  generally  known,  that  the  name 
"Whig"  was  not  applied  to  the  party  until  1834,  is  duly 
noted  by  Mr.  Sater.  Party  names,  however,  were  of 
little  importance  for,  from  1820  to  Jackson's  death  in 
1845,  the  entire  electorate  of  the  country  was  divided 
into  "Clay  Men"  and  "Jackson  Men."  Each  of  these 
magnetic  leaders  had  an  ardent  following  the  like  of 
which  this  country  has  never  known.  Mr.  Sater  in 
commenting  on  this  blind  idolatry  quotes  a  passage 
written  by  James  G.  Elaine  which  eloquently  depicts 
the  unprecedented  devotion  of  the  adherents  of  Clay 
and  Jackson.  As  an  incident  throwing  light  upon  the 
unswerving  loyalty  and  unreasoning  affection  of  Clay's 
followers,  I  may  relate  a  conversation  which  I  had  in 
1860 — eight  years  after  Clay's  death — with  an  uncle  of 
mine  residing  in  Illinois.  He  was  a  warm  personal 
friend  of  Lincoln  and  his  active  supporter  in  the  presi- 
dential campaign  then  in  progress,  yet  he  said  to  me, 
"I  would  rather  vote  for  Clay's  old  boots  than  for  any 
living  statesman."  Verily,  it  was  an  uncanny  sort  of 


4  THE    WHIG    PARTY 

hypnotism  which  could  cause  intelligent  and  sensible 
men  to  think  more  of  Clay's  old  boots  than  of  Abraham 
Lincoln;  yet,  in  spite  of  this,  fate  played  such  fantastic 
tricks  with  Henry  Clay  that  he  died,  broken  hearted 
from  his  many  failures  to  reach  the  presidency. 

The  Whig  party  was  made  up  of  many  incongruous 
elements  which  coalesced  for  the  sole  purpose  of  indis- 
criminate opposition  to  the  Democratic  Party  which 
ruled  the  country  from  1801  to  1861.  The  only  positive 
policy  of  the  Whigs  was  the  support  of  tariffs  for  the 
protection  of  "infant"  industries;  but  the  present  high 
protective  theories  would  have  been  as  odious  to  them 
as  to  the  Democrats.  Mr.  Sater  has  graphically  des- 
cribed the  conflicting  and  apparently  inconsistent  posi- 
tion of  statesmen  upon  the  tariff  a  century  ago  (in  1816) 
when  Calhoun  advocated  protection  and  Webster 
declared  for  free  trade;  yet,  fifteen  years  later  Calhoun 
caused  South  Carolina  to  nullify  the  tariff  while  Clay 
and  Jackson,  agreeing  for  the  only  time  in  their  lives, 
combined  with  Webster  to  uphold  the  tariff  and  fight 
nullification — a  proof  that  statesmen  sometimes  change 
their  minds,  and  that  there  is  truth  in  the  old  adage  that 
"politics  makes  strange  bed-fellows." 

Both  presidents  elected  by  the  Whigs  were  popular 
military  heroes  whose  election  was  not,  in  any  sense,  the 
result  of  a  strict  division  on  political  lines.  The  extra- 
ordinary nature  of  the  campaign  of  1840,  in  which 
General  Harrison  was  elected,  is  well  illustrated  by  the 
description  (quoted  by  Mr.  Sater  from  Randall  and 
Ryan's  valuable  History  of  Ohio)  of  the  monster  Whig 
meeting  held  at  Dayton  and  attended  by  sixty  thousand 
people.  They  went  on  foot  and  on  horseback,  by  ox 
teams,  farm  wagons  and  canal  boats;  and,  today,  three 
million  people  could  be  assembled  there  more  easily  and 


FOREWORD    BY    JAMES    E.    CAMPBELL  5 

quickly  by  rail,  trolley  and  automobile.  The  character 
of  that  spectacular  but  somewhat  ludicrous  campaign 
may  be  inferred  from  the  following  paragraph  written 
by  Carl  Schurz  in  his  Life  of  Henry  Clay: 

"There  has  probably  never  been  a  presidential  campaign 
of  more  enthusiasm  and  less  thought  than  the  Whig  campaign 
of  1840.  As  soon  as  it  was  fairly  started  it  resolved  itself  into 
a  popular  frolic.  There  was  no  end  of  monster  mass  meetings 
with  log  cabins,  raccoons  and  hard  cider.  One-half  of  the 
American  people  seemed  to  have  stopped  work  to  march  in 
processions  behind  brass  bands  or  drum  and  fife,  to  attend  huge 
picnics  and  to  sing  campaign  doggerel  about  Tippecanoe  and 
Tyler  too." 

Mr.  Sater  has  acutely  portrayed  the  political  crisis 
at  the  time  of  the  so-called  Compromise  of  1850  when 
the  great  Whig  leaders  (Clay  and  Webster)  as  well  as  the 
Democratic  leaders  from  both  sections  of  the  country, 
rested  under  the  curious  delusion  that  they  had  dis- 
posed of  the  Slavery  Question — the  ever  recurring 
Banquo's  ghost  of  American  politics.  As  an  illustration 
of  the  universal  confidence  and  satisfaction  in  this  sup- 
posed settlement,  Thomas  H.  Benton,  then  serving  his 
thirtieth  successive  year  in  the  Senate,  told  a  young 
friend  (who  was  just  coming  into  Congress)  that  there 
was  no  future  career  for  a  man  in  that  body,  because  all 
of  the  great  questions  which  could  arise — African 
Slavery,  the  Tariff  and  the  Bank — had  been  finally 
closed.  Great  statesmen  are  not  always  prophets,  and 
the  answer  to  Benton's  prediction  is  that  slavery  was 
afterwards  abolished  at  the  expense  of  a  bloody  civil 
war;  that  the  tariff  has  been  a  subject  of  continuous 
and  bitter  controversy  for  forty-five  years ;  and  that  the 
entire  banking  system  of  the  country  has  been  so  com- 
pletely transformed  that  Benton  and  his  great  col- 
leagues in  the  Senate  (if  alive  today)  would  behold  it 
with  mingled  awe  and  amazement. 


6  THE    WHIG    PARTY 

Further  favorable  comment  upon  Mr.  Sater's 
thoughtful  and  scholarly  essay  might  be  appropriately 
prolonged,  but  is  withheld  because  no  amount  of  com- 
ment could  add  to  its  interest.  The  hope  is  expressed, 
however,  that  his  masterly  dissertation  may  be  widely 
circulated  to  the  pleasure  and  profit  of  his  many  friends 
and  admirers. 

JAMES  E.  CAMPBELL. 


A  Paper  by  Lowry  F.  Sater 

IN  the  history  of  American  politics,  no  administra- 
tion has  demonstrated  more  clearly  than  that  of 
John  Adams  the  expeditious  and  effective  manner 
in  which  the  majority  party,  under  capable  leadership 
in  that  regard,  may  bring  about  its  utter  effacement. 
Of  the  many  battles  that  have  since  been  waged  for 
party  mastery,  none  have  approximated  in  bitterness 
and  malignancy  the  interminable  quarrels  in  which  the 
great  leaders  of  the  Federalist  party  indulged  during 
these  four  years. 

As  the  central  figure  about  which  these  controver- 
sies raged,  and  chargeable,  perhaps,  more  than  any 
other  of  the  distinguished  disputants  with  the  con- 
ditions then  obtaining,  it  is  neither  strange  nor  un- 
fitting, that  Adams  should  have  been  the  first  victim  of 
the  "Rule-or-Ruin"  school  of  practical  politics,  in 
which  so  many  brilliant,  but  misguided  men,  since  that 
day  have  been  trained.  Blaming  almost  every  one  but 
himself  for  his  defeat,  embittered,  resentful  and  defiant, 
he  retired  from  the  presidency  with  less  grace  than  any 
one  who  has  occupied  that  exalted  station. 

As  he  drove  away  from  the  executive  mansion 
shortly  after  midnight  on  the  3rd  of  March,  1801,  the 
Federalist  party  went  with  him  into  retirement.  When 
Thomas  Jefferson  dismounted  at  the  Capitol  a  few 
hours  later,  (from  the  horse  which  he  is  supposed  to  have 
ridden)  to  take  up  the  duties  of  the  office  that  his  testy 
predecessor  had  laid  aside  so  unceremoniously  in  the 
dark,  the  party  of  which  he  was  at  once  the  founder  and 
acknowledged  leader,  assumed  control  of  the  govern- 
ment. 

In  the  course  of  the  long  and  useful  lives  of  these 
two  remarkable  men,  which  touched  at  so  many  points 


8  THE    WHIG    PARTY 

of  honorable  achievement,  there  never  was  a  time  when, 
from  their  actions  and  conduct,  they  seemed  to  have  so 
little  in  common  as  on  this  memorable  occasion. 

With  Jefferson's  election,  says  Carl  Schurz,  "the 
American  people  for  the  first  time  became  fully  con- 
scious of  the  fact  that  the  Government  really  belonged 
to  them,  and  not  to  a  limited  circle  of  important 
gentlemen." 

Excepting  Washington,  Jefferson,  as  president, 
exercised  and  enjoyed  a  personal  power  greater  than  any 
other  occupant  that  office  has  known.  The  conciliatory 
tone  of  his  inaugural  address,  the  prosperity,  and  general 
serenity  of  his  first  administration,  and  the  good 
fortune  which  attended  upon  his  administrative  policies, 
steadily  attracted  larger,  and  ever  larger  numbers  of  his 
countrymen,  who  were  ready  to  accept  and  act  with 
him  in  putting  into  execution  his  ideas  of  government. 
His  great  faith  in  the  people,  his  sympathetic  insight 
into  their  everyday  life  and  thought,  his  winning 
personality,  and  his  genius  for  organization,  made  the 
man  as  popular,  as  the  Executive  was  successful.  So 
thoroughly  in  accord  were  the  people  with  his  views, 
and  so  generally  and  gladly  did  they  recognize  his 
leadership,  that  in  the  election  of  1804,  he  received  all 
but  fourteen  of  the  one  hundred  and  seventy-six 
electoral  votes.  Following,  closely  as  it  did,  upon  the 
death  of  Hamilton,  this  all  but  unanimous  endorsement 
at  the  polls  gave  Jefferson  a  political  supremacy  that 
remained  absolute  and  undisputed  until  the  day  of  his 
death. 

From  the  time  of  his  accession  until  the  election 
immediately  following  his  death,  the  unity  of  the  party 
he  had  founded  was  unbroken,  and  membership  in  it 
was  so  essential  to  political  advancement  that  practi- 
cally all  national  opposition  to  it  came  to  an  end. 

In  1809  he  was  succeeded  by  James  Madison,  his 
Secretary  of  State,  whose  views  were  so  thoroughly  in 
accord  with  those  of  his  illlustrious  preceptor,  that 
Parton  declares,  "The  only  noticeable  change  made  in 


THE  END  OF  THE  FEDERALIST  PARTY      9 

the  administration  was  that  of  the  signatures."  It  is 
one  of  the  ironies  of  history,  that  the  administration  of 
this  peace-loving  statesman  should  be  remembered 
generally  by  our  people  because  of  the  second  war  with 
England.  I  do  not  refer  to  this  occurrence  for  the 
purpose  of  discussing  whether  the  glory,  or  discredit,  as 
the  case  may  be,  with  which  the  young  nation  emerged 
from  that  contest,  was  due  to  preparedness  or  the  want 
of  it,  but  for  noting  the  farewell  performance  of  the 
Federalist  party  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  presenting  on 
the  other,  a  goodly  company  of  young  gentlemen  with 
whom  we  shall  hereafter  become  much  better  ac- 
quainted. From  the  questionable  and  unpatriotic 
utterances  and  actions  of  Pickering,  Cabot,  Otis  and 
Quincy,  that  culminated  in  the  Hartford  Convention, 
we  may  turn  with  pride  to  the  splendid  services  that 
were  rendered  during  this  period  on  the  field  of  battle 
and  in  the  halls  of  Congress  by  Andrew  Jackson,  Wil- 
liam H.  Harrison,  Winfield  Scott,  Lewis  Cass,  Henry 
Clay  and  John  C.  Calhoun. 

The  campaign  of  1812,  which  was  a  contest  between 
the  peace  party  and  the  war  party,  rather  than  between 
political  parties,  resulted  in  Madison's  re-election. 
Properly  speaking,  there  was  now  but  one  political 
party  in  the  country.  The  principles  of  this  party  were 
neither  Federalist  nor  Republican,  as  originally  con- 
ceived, but  a  combination  of  both.  Party  principles 
then,  as  in  these  days,  depended  a  great  deal  upon  the 
situation  of  the  party  advocating  them.  The  principles 
of  the  Federalist  party,  when  in  power,  were  as  unlike 
those  of  the  party  out  of  power,  as  the  principles  of  the 
Democratic  party  out  of  power,  were  to  those  of  that 
party  in  power.  When  the  Federalists  were  loose  con- 
structionists,  the  Democrats  were  strict  constructionists 
and  States  Rights'  men;  and  when  the  Republican 
party  abruptly  changed  front,  and  became  loose  con- 
structionists, the  Federalists,  as  inconsistently,  became 
strict  constructionists,  and  denounced  as  unconstitu- 
tional what  they  had  before  not  only  called  constitu- 


10  THEWHIGPARTY 

tional,  but  demanded  as  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
welfare  of  the  nation. 

"The  Era  of  Good  Feeling"  that  followed  the  war, 
was  a  period  of  political  peacefulness,  as  well  as  material 
national  prosperity.  The  country,  it  seemed,  had  gone 
out  of  politics;  or  rather,  politics  had  gone  out  of  the 
country.  As  an  instance  of  this,  and  of  how  completely 
party  lines  had  disappeared,  it  will  be  remembered  that 
in  1820  Monroe  was  re-elected  without  any  formal 
nomination,  and  without  a  single  elector  being 
chosen  against  him.  One  elector,  however,  William 
Plummer,  an  ardent  Republican  of  New  Hampshire, 
voted  for  John  Quincy  Adams,  for  the  purpose,  as  is 
generally  believed,  of  preserving  for  Washington  alone, 
the  signal  honor  of  an  unanimous  election  to  the  presi- 
dency, rather  than  because  he  regarded  Monroe  as  a 
weak  man,  as  his  son  later  attempted  to  explain. 

The  one  great  act  that  marked  the  peaceful  ad- 
ministration of  Monroe,  was  the  announcement  of  the 
great  Declaration  bearing  his  name,  which  in  the 
century  that  has  passed  since  its  assertion,  without  the 
sanction  of  the  legislative  branch  of  the  Government, 
but  "finding  its  recognition  in  those  principles  of  inter- 
national law  which  are  based  upon  the  theory  that 
every  nation  shall  have  its  rights  protected  and  its  just 
claims  enforced," — as  President  Cleveland  so  aptly 
expressed  it, — has  come  to  be  regarded  by  our  own 
people  as  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land.  Although 
no  mention  or  recognition  of  this  doctrine  is  found  in 
the  International  Code,  and  its  validity  at  times  has 
been  seriously  questioned,  the  vigor  with  which  it  has 
ever  been  asserted  by  our  government,  has  com- 
manded and  won  for  it  the  generous  and  wholesome 
respect  of  the  nations  of  the  world. 

Notwithstanding  the  unity  of  political  action  that 
characterized  these  years,  which  Randolph,  of  Roanoke, 
cynically  designated  as  "the  unanimity  of  indifference," 
there  were  differences.  In  the  ranks  of  the  triumphant 
party,  differences  of  opinion  regarding  the  tariff,  the 


THE    WAR    OF    1812  n 

increase  in  the  army  and  navy,  the  inauguration  and 
construction  of  a  system  of  internal  improvements, 
began  to  manifest  themselves,  and  with  all,  as  might  be 
expected,  there  were  more  or  less  personal  differences. 
While  the  party  of  Jefferson  was  still  all  powerful,  it  was 
impossible  to  say  whether  it  was  a  party  of  loose  con- 
struction or  of  strict  construction.  For  a  time  it  was 
neither.  For  this  same  time,  therefore,  it  must  have 
been  both,  in  literal  fulfillment,  as  it  were,  of  the  saying 
of  its  founder,  "We  are  all  Federalists;  we  are  all 
Republicans." 

The  leader  of  the  loose  constructionists  at  this 
time  was  Henry  Clay.  It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say 
that  as  Speaker  of  the  House  he,  more  than  any  other 
American,  was  responsible  for  our  second  war  with 
England.  The  indignities  to  which  the  country  was 
subjected  as  a  result  of  the  various  orders,  acts  and 
decrees  of  the  English  and  French  governments,  aroused 
in  him  a  spirit  of  retaliation,  to  which  the  country,  under 
the  spell  of  his  ringing  eloquence,  eagerly  responded 
without  a  thought,  apparently,  on  the  part  of  either,  as 
to  whether  the  nation  was  prepared  for  entering  upon 
such  a  course. 

Ably  supported  in  these  efforts  by  a  half  dozen 
other  Young  Hot-Spurs,  he  literally  drove  the  country 
into  war,  which,  he  vehemently  asserted,  would  be 
brought  to  a  speedy  and  glorious  conclusion  by  the  con- 
quest of  Canada  by  a  few  regiments  of  Kentucky 
militia,  and  the  dictation  of  peace  in  Quebec  or  Halifax. 
As  he  hurried,  a  few  months  later,  to  a  place  of  safety, 
by  the  glare  of  the  flames  that  were  devastating  the 
Hall  in  which  these  declarations  were  made,  he  must 
have  realized  what  a  goodly  portion  of  our  people  at 
this  time  do  not  seem  to  understand,  that  eloquence, 
mere  eloquence,  however  effective  it  may  be  as  the 
producing  cause,  can  neither  prepare  a  nation  for  war, 
even  against  flintlocks  and  six  pounders,  nor  prosecute 
it  with  the  same  felicitous  expedition  to  a  glorious  and 
triumphant  peace. 


ll  THEWHIGPARTY 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  direct  and  proximate 
cause  of  this  war  was  not  settled  for  nearly  half  a 
century  after  peace  was  declared,  and  not  until  each 
country  found  itself  occupying  the  position  the  other 
had  held  during  this  struggle,  and  of  certain  other  inci- 
dents hereinafter  referred  to,  I  have  wondered  at  times, 
as  a  matter  of  pure  speculation,  whether  the  war  of  1812 
would  ever  have  been  known  to  history,  had  the  then 
Honorable  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
thought  for  a  moment,  that  the  gods  of  war  would  have 
singled  out  from  all  those  who  participated  therein,  as 
their  favored  son  of  fortune,  a  rough,  impulsive,  head- 
strong and  indomitable  leader  from  the  backwoods  of 
Tennessee. 

Without  reflecting,  however,  upon  the  American- 
ism of  Henry  Clay,  or  itemizing  the  charges,  if  any,  that 
might  be  entered  against  him  and  his  eloquent  sup- 
porters on  this  particular  score,  we  are  naturally  led  to 
ask  whether  or  not  it  was  worth  while. 

"If  the  warlike  impulse  in  this  case  was  mere  sentiment, 
as  has  been  said,  it  was  statesmanlike  sentiment.  For  the 
war  of  1812,  with  all  the  losses  in  blood  and  treasure  en- 
tailed by  it,  and  in  spite  of  the  peace  which  ignored  the  de- 
clared causes  of  the  war,  transformed  the  American  Republic, 
in  the  estimation  of  the  world,  from  a  feeble  experimental 
curiosity  into  a  power — a  real  power,  full  of  brains,  and  with 
visible  claws  and  teeth,"  It  made  the  American  people,  who 
had  so  far  consisted  of  the  peoples  of  so  many  little  common- 
wealths, not  seldom  wondering  whether  they  could  profitably 
stay  longer  together,  a  cemented,  united  nation,  with  a  com- 
mon country,  a  great  country,  worth  fighting  for;  and  a  com- 
mon national  destiny,  nobody  could  say  how  great;  and  a 
common  national  pride  at  that  time  filling  every  American 
heart  brimful. 

"The  war  had  encountered  the  first  practical  disunion 
movement  and  killed  it  by  exposing  it  to  the  execration  of 
the  true  American  feeling;  killed  it  so  dead,  at  least  on  its 
field  of  action  in  New  England,  that  a  similar  aspiration  has 
never  arisen  there  again.  The  war  put  an  end  to  the  last 
remnant  of  Colonial  feeling,  for  from  that  time  forward,  there 
was  no  longer  any  French  party,  or  any  English  party  in  the 
United  States;  it  was  thenceforth  all  American  as  against  the 
world;  a  war  that  had  such  results  was  not  fought  in  vain." 


THE    AMERICAN    SYSTEM  13 

With  this  vision  of  a  greater  nation  before  them, 
this  same  school  of  Progressive  Republicans  found,  as 
they  thought,  in  the  enactment  of  a  revenue  measure, 
with  protection  as  an  incident  thereto,  the  means  of  its 
immediate  realization.  Clay  insisted  that  such  a 
measure  would  not  only  pay  the  war  debt  and  the 
expenses  of  the  government,  but  that  it  would  encourage 
and  protect  American  manufacturers,  and  further,  pro- 
vide a  fund  for  the  creation  of  a  system  of  internal 
improvements.  His  ablest  advocate  in  support  of  this 
doctrine,  as  his  warmest  champion  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  war,  was  John  C.  Calhoun,  whose  speech  of 
almost  a  hundred  years  ago  (April  6,  1916),  represents 
more  accurately  than  anything  I  have  found,  the  prin- 
ciples thereafter  represented  by  the  Whig  party.  In 
support  of  the  "American  system,"  as  Clay  later  styled 
this  new  doctrine,  he  never  adduced  a  stronger  argu- 
ment in  its  favor  than  was  offered  at  this  time  by  the 
great  South  Carolinian. 

In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
Daniel  Webster  opposed  the  plan,  and  spoke  with  all 
the  force  of  his  powers  in  favor  of  free  trade.  The 
measure  was  a  disappointment,  however,  and  after  an 
unsuccessful  effort  at  revision  in  1820,  the  question, 
upon  the  recommendation  of  President  Monroe,  was 
again  brought  up  for  discussion.  In  this  contest  Clay 
led  the  administrative  forces  to  a  thin-edged  victory 
against  the  growing  and  powerful  opposition  of  Web- 
ster, and  the  tariff  of  1824,  as  a  triumph  of  the  American 
system,  became  the  law  of  the  land. 

While  the  discussion  of  the  great  questions  that 
characterized  the  administration  of  James  Monroe  in- 
tensified the  differences  that  manifested  themselves  in 
the  minds  of  the  great  men  who  participated  therein, 
there  was,  as  yet,  no  break  in  the  unity  of  the  ruling 
party.  Until  this  time  the  question  of  succession,  from 
the  time  of  his  first  election,  had  been  decided  by 
Jefferson.  Whether  he  was  unable  to  choose  from 
among  the  number  of  his  followers,  who  laid  claim  to 


I4  THEWHIGPARTY 

this  right  upon  the  retirement  of  Monroe;  whether  he 
purposely  witheld  his  counsel,  that  the  party  might 
determine  for  itself  the  leadership  which  he  was  re- 
linquishing, or  whether  he  feared  the  party  would  no 
longer  respect  his  choice,  excepting  a  reference  in  a 
letter  to  Richard  Rush,  in  which  he  states  that  "either 
Adams  or  Crawford  will  be  chosen,"  he  expressed  no 
choice  as  to  who  should  be  selected.  In  the  free-for-all 
race  that  followed,  there  were  six  entries:  Henry  Clay 
of  Kentucky,  Speaker  of  the  House;  William  H.  Craw- 
ford, of  Georgia,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  John 
Quincy  Adams  of  Massachusetts,  Secretary  of  State; 
Andrew  Jackson,  a  private  citizen  of  Tennessee;  John 
C.  Calhoun  of  South  Carolina,  Secretary  of  War;  and 
DeWitt  Clinton,  Governor  of  New  York. 

These  men  were  all  Democrats,  or  all  Republicans, 
or  all  Democrat-Republicans,  as  you  may  wish  to  call 
them.  There  were  no  regular  nominations,  nor  were 
there  any  platforms.  It  was  not  a  party  contest,  but 
one  in  which  the  personalities  of  the  candidates  was  the 
determining  factor.  Clay  and  Adams  were  loose  con- 
structionists,  Crawford  and  Jackson  were  strict  con- 
structionists,  excepting  that  the  latter  favored  what  he 
termed  a  "judicious  tariff."  Clinton  and  Calhoun 
withdrew  from  the  race,  for  which  modesty,  the  latter, 
the  youngest  of  the  sextette,  was  rewarded  with  the 
vice  presidency.  The  results  of  this  election  were  far 
greater  and  more  decisive  than  any  of  its  participants 
could  have  imagined.  With  it  "the  era  of  good  feeling" 
came  to  an  end,  and  the  era  of  personal  politics  began. 
It  is  a  most  interesting  chapter  that  describes  the  im- 
mediate results — the  selection  of  Adams  by  the  House, 
his  appointment  of  Clay  to  the  State  Department,  the 
"bargain  and  corruption  cry,"  the  high-toned,  bloodless 
Clay-Randolph  duel,  and,  greatest,  perhaps,  as  regards 
the  subject  under  consideration,  the  personal  enmity 
that  sprang  up  between  Clay  and  Jackson,  which  was  to 
defeat  the  dearest  ambition  of  the  one,  and  embitter  the 
life  of  the  other  to  its  very  close. 


THE    POLITICAL    HEIRS    OF    JEFFERSON  15 

As  president,  the  younger  Adams  maintained, 
throughout  his  entire  administration,  the  high  standard 
of  public  service  that  had  been  established  and  upheld 
by  his  predecessors.  To  the  faithful  and  conscientious 
discharge  of  the  duties  of  this  high  office,  he  directed, 
with  singular  success,  all  the  power  of  his  great  learning 
and  experience,  upon  which  he  set  with  all  his  strength, 
the  stamp  of  the  highest  personal  character.  He  re- 
moved but  two  men  from  office  during  his  four  years  in 
the  presidency,  and  they  were  dismissed  for  very  good 
cause,  and  in  the  discharge  of  all  his  official  duties  he 
looked  solely  to  what  he  considered  to  be  to  the  best 
interests  of  the  nation.  While  more  courteous  and 
democratic  than  his  father,  he  was  quite  as  indifferent 
to  public  favor.  He  made  no  effort  whatever  to  secure  a 
re-election,  and  with  more  grace,  but  hardly  any  per- 
ceptible decrease  in  the  proportion  of  the  majorities 
against  him,  he,  like  his  father,  turned  over  the  office  he 
had  honored  so  highly,  to  the  political  heirs  of  Jefferson. 

These  heirs,  however,  with  each  succeeding  elec- 
tion were  becoming  more  and  more  estranged.  As  the 
personal  factor  in  the  equation  contributed  more  than 
anything  else  to  this  condition,  both  factions  to  the 
separation  clung  to  the  old  party  name,  as  if  each  would 
be  considered  as  the  legitimate  successor  of  the  party 
from  which  it  had  arisen.  They  were  known  as  National 
Republicans  and  Democratic  Republicans;  Adams  and 
Clay  Republicans,  and  Jackson  Republicans.  The 
simplest  and  most  significant  division,  however,  during 
the  campaign  of  1828,  would  have  been  Jackson  men  on 
one  side,  Clay  and  Adams  men  on  the  other. 

It  is  stated,  upon  reliable  authority,  that  when,  in 
connection  with  his  election  to  the  Senate  in  1823,  some 
one  of  his  ardent  supporters  in  Tennessee  suggested 
Jackson's  name  for  the  presidency,  the  latter  then 
and  there  disposed  of  the  matter  in  his  usual  emphatic 
manner. 


16  THEVVHIGPARTY 

"Do  they  suppose,"  said  he,  "that  I  am  such  a  damn 
fool  as  to  think  myself  fit  for  President  of  the  United  States? 
No,  sir!  I  know  what  I  am  fit  for.  I  can  command  a  body 
of  men  in  a  rough  way,  but  I  am  not  fit  to  be  president." 

Within  one  year  from  this  time,  however,  Jackson 
received  a  larger  popular  vote  for  president  than  either 
of  his  distinguished  competitors,  and  in  the  Electoral 
College  had  99  votes,  against  84  for  Adams,  41  for 
Crawford,  and  37  for  Clay.  If  Jackson  was  correct  in 
what  he  said  about  his  unfitness  for  the  office,  his  con- 
stituents were  either  ignorant  or  unconcerned  in  regard 
thereto.  The  candidate  and  the  constituency  were 
agreed,  however,  that  in  the  election  of  Adams  by  the 
House,  the  "will  of  the  people"  had  been  thwarted,  a 
wrong  which  neither  could  tolerate,  and  which  both  set 
about  vigorously  to  redress. 

In  the  campaign  that  followed,  the  eminent  qualifi- 
cations of  Adams,  who  was  now  known  as  a  National 
Republican,  for  re-election,  were  no  match  for  the 
popular  qualities  of  the  Hero  of  New  Orleans,  who 
appealed  to  his  countrymen  as  a  Democrat.  Instead 
of  defining  the  principles,  if  any,  these  parties  were 
supposed  to  represent,  the  time  was  spent  in  maligning 
the  characters  of  the  candidates.  Hardly  anything  was 
said  of  the  one;  hardly  anything  unsaid  of  the  other. 
If  there  had  been  the  least  particle  of  truth  in  what 
was  said  of  either  of  these  men,  they  were  of  all  men  in 
the  country,  the  two  least  fitted  to  the  office  to  which 
they  aspired. 

When  the  votes  were  counted,  it  was  found  that 
Jackson  had  won  by  overwhelming  odds,  receiving  178 
electoral  votes  to  85  that  were  given  to  Adams.  Adams 
carried  the  New  England  states,  with  the  loss  of  one 
vote  in  Maine;  also  New  Jersey  and  Delaware;  and 
divided,  about  equally  with  Jackson,  the  votes  of  New 
York  and  Maryland.  South  of  the  Potomac  and  west 
of  the  Alleghenies  Jackson  swept  everything  before  him. 
All  of  the  Clay  states  of  1824,  including  his  beloved 
Kentucky,  were  carried  by  Jackson.  In  some  parts  of 
the  country  it  was  regarded  as  a  triumph  of  the  South 


A    DEMOCRATIC    DESPOT  17 

over  the  North,  when  really  its  sectional  significance, 
if  it  had  any,  came  from  its  being  a  victory  of  the  West 
over  the  East.  Adams  felt  the  defeat  keenly,  and 
declared  that  "the  sun  of  his  public  life  had  set  in 
deepest  storm." 

By  virtue  of  his  elevation  to  the  presidency,  Jack- 
son (who  regarded  the  victory  as  a  personal  vindication 
of  the  wrong  he  had  suffered  in  1824),  became  the 
recognized  leader  of  the  party,  of  which  he  at  once  as- 
sumed command.  Had  he  taken  an  oath  to  preserve  and 
perpetuate  the  party  of  his  choice,  as  he  did  to  preserve, 
protect  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  his  country,  he 
could  hardly  have  served  the  one  more  faithfully  than 
we  know  him  to  have  served  the  other.  His  cabinet 
officers,  whom  he  regarded  more  as  clerks,  were  chosen 
with  some  reference  to  their  official  fitness  and  capacity, 
let  us  hope,  but  it  is  quite  as  reasonable  to  believe  that 
the  degree  of  hostility  entertained  by  each  of  these  gen- 
tlemen for  Henry  Clay  was  not  overlooked  in  determin- 
ing these  appointments.  He  had  looked  so  long  upon  his 
personal  opponents  as  the  enemies  of  his  country  that 
he  now  regarded  his  political  opponents  as  dangerous, 
and  as  an  evidence  of  his  sincerity,  in  the  first  year  of 
his  "reign"  as  Von  Hoist  terms  it,  he  made  740  removals, 
or,  exactly  ten  times  as  many  as  had  been  made  in  the 
forty  years  previous  by  the  six  great  men  who  had 
preceded  him. 

Against  the  injustice  of  this  proceeding  Clay  and 
Adams,  along  with  other  leading  statesmen,  including 
some  of  the  president's  own  party,  stoutly  protested. 
As  a  result  the  president  persisted  in  his  course  only  the 
more  stubbornly.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  it  was 
because  of  his  protest,  as  Postmaster  General,  against 
the  indiscriminate  changes  in  his  department,  that  John 
McLean,  the  first  man  from  Ohio  to  enjoy  that  dis- 
tinction, was  transferred  from  the  Cabinet  to  the 
Supreme  Bench. 

In  all  the  busy  years  of  his  combative  career,  we 
doubt  whether  Andrew  Jackson  in  the  same  length  of 


i8  THEWHIGPARTY 

time  ever  participated  in  as  many  fights  as  engaged  his 
attention  during  his  first  term  as  president.  It  is  too 
long  a  story  even  to  summarize,  and  it  must  suffice  to 
say,  that  notwithstanding  all  the  opposition  that  he 
invited  and  encountered,  whether  in  connection  with 
the  "spoils  system,"  the  Bank  Question,  or  nullification; 
with  his  Cabinet,  the  Senate,  or  South  Carolina;  with 
England  over  the  boundary  line,  or  France  concerning 
the  payment  of  delinquent  claims,  he  emerged  vic- 
torious, only  to  meet  his  first,  and  so  far  as  I  have 
observed,  his  only  defeat,  in  a  social  engagement  that 
he  waged  with  the  women  of  Washington  society  in 
behalf  of  Peggy  O'Neil. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  confusion  we  here  meet  for 
the  first  time  with  that  great  spectacular  feature  of 
American  politics,  known  as  the  National  Convention. 
Whatever  credit  may  attach,  in  the  light  of  some  of  our 
present  day  theories,  to  the  inauguration  of  this  im- 
proved system  of  nomination,  belongs  to  an  aggregation 
known  as  the  Anti-Masonic  party,  a  sort  of  a  Guardians- 
of-Liberty  organization,  which  met  at  Baltimore  in 
September,  1831,  and  named  William  Wirt,  who  had 
been  a  member  of  the  Masonic  Order,  as  its  candidate 
for  president.  I  know  of  no  possible  claim  that  this 
alleged  party  can  have  for  mention  or  remembrance, 
than  that  ascribed  to  it  in  this  statement,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  it  numbered  among  its  supporters 
such  men  as  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  Joseph  Story, 
Wm.  H.  Harrison  and  Wm.  H.  Seward. 

On  December  12,  1831,  Clay,  as  the  recognized 
leader  of  the  anti-administration  forces,  was  nominated 
for  the  presidency  amidst  the  greatest  enthusiasm  by 
the  National  Republicans  in  convention  assembled  at 
Baltimore.  In  the  following  March,  the  Democratic 
Convention  likewise  met  in  Baltimore,  and  adopted  the 
two-thirds  rule  that  has  prevailed  in  every  one  of  its 
National  Conventions  since  that  time,  confirmed  the 
action  of  the  New  York  legislature  in  its  renomination 
of  Jackson,  and  by  the  nomination  of  Van  Buren  for 


THE    CAMPAIGN    OF    1832  19 

vice  president,  threw  Calhoun  out  of  the  line  of  suc- 
cession, who  now  with  a  little  band  of  nullifiers,  set 
about  to  organize  a  party  of  his  own. 

No  platform  was  adopted  by  either  of  these  parties, 
and  Clay  of  his  own  choosing  made  the  Bank  Question 
the  paramount  issue  of  the  campaign.  "If  he  had  cast 
about,"  says  Schurz,  "for  the  greatest  blunder  possible, 
under  the  circumstances,  he  could  not  have  found  a 
more  brilliant  one." 

Early  in  the  year  a  bill  for  the  rechartering  of  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States  was  introduced  in  Congress, 
and  after  a  memorable  discussion,  in  which  Calhoun 
joined  with  Clay  and  Webster  in  support  of  the  measure, 
it  passed  both  Houses,  and  was  sent  to  the  President. 
The  President,  in  his  forcible  and  fearless  manner, 
promptly  vetoed  the  bill,  and  strange  to  say,  one  of  the 
strongest  reasons  he  gave  for  doing  so  was  the  argument 
that  Clay  had  used  in  1811,  when  opposed  to  recharter- 
ing the  Bank.  Webster,  Clay,  Ewing,  Clayton,  and  all 
the  opposition  now  thundered  against  the  veto,  but  to 
no  avail.  The  necessary  two-thirds  vote  could  not  be 
obtained,  and  the  veto  was  sustained.  In  the  mean- 
time, the  Senate,  under  Clay's  leadership,  with  the  vote 
of  Vice  President  Calhoun,  had  refused  to  confirm  the 
nomination  of  Van  Buren  as  Minister  to  England.  The 
embarrassment  that  Van  Buren  suffered  on  this  account 
was  very  slight,  as  we  shall  see,  to  that  which  came  in 
time  to  both  Clay  and  Calhoun. 

The  contest  was  of  unusual  violence  and  defama- 
tion, aggravated  by  the  personal  enmities  existing,  and 
growing  continually  in  intensity,  between  the  two  candi- 
dates. Of  the  288  electoral  votes,  Jackson  received  239, 
and  Clay,  excepting  his  own  State,  received  only  the 
votes  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut, 
Delaware  and  Maryland.  The  anti-Masonic  candidate 
received  seven  votes  from  Vermont,  and  South  Carolina 
on  account  of  Calhoun's  hatred  for  Jackson,  gave  her 
votes  to  John  Floyd  of  Virginia. 


to  THEWHIGPARTY 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  nothing  was  said  during  the 
campaign  about  the  slavery  question.  It  had  not  yet 
been  thought  of  as  a  political  issue.  In  his  "Life  of 
Benton,"  Theodore  Roosevelt  says,  that  "At  this  time 
there  was  ten-fold  more  feeling  in  the  North  against 
Masonry  and  secret  societies  generally,  than  there  was 
against  slavery."  Upon  this  same  subject  John  Quincy 
Adams  wrote,  "the  dissolution  of  the  Masonic  institu- 
tion in  the  United  States,  I  believe  to  be  really  more 
important  to  us  and  our  posterity,  than  the  question 
whether  Mr.  Clay  or  General  Jackson  shall  be  presi- 
dent." 

"Jackson  held  that  his  re-election,"  says  Prof. 
Sumner,  "was  a  triumphant  vindication  of  him  at  all 
points  in  which  he  had  been  engaged  in  controversy  with 
anybody,  and  a  kind  of  a  charter  to  him  as  representa- 
tive, or  rather  tribune  of  the  people,  to  go  on  and 
govern  on  his  own  judgment,  over  and  against  every- 
body, including  Congress." 

Clay  and  his  friends  had  hardly  regained  political 
consciousness,  when  South  Carolina,  led  on  by  Calhoun, 
raised  the  standard  of  nullification,  and  threatened  to 
withdraw  from  the  Union.  While  the  immediate  pre- 
text of  this  outbreak  was  the  enforcement  of  "The 
Tariff  of  Abominations,"  as  the  Act  of  1828  was  called, 
which  favored  the  New  England  states,  as  was  claimed 
by  Calhoun,  at  the  expense  of  the  people  of  his  section, 
the  real  cause  had  its  origin  in  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention of  1787,  as  one  writer  facetiously  says,  "As  to 
whether  it  was  proper  to  say  'The  United  States  are/ 
or,  'The  United  States  is,'  a  Nation." 

No  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  Republic  is  more 
inspiring  than  that  contributed  at  this  time  by  Daniel 
Webster,  Andrew  Jackson  and  Henry  Clay.  Animated 
by  the  same  lofty  purposes,  and  acting  in  conjunction, 
though  upon  his  own  initiative  and  in  his  own  proper 
sphere,  neither  of  these  men  ever  served  the  country  to 
a  better  advantage  than  during  this  crisis.  Patriotism 
in  each  of  these  great  leaders  was  a  passion,  and 


"OUR  FEDERAL  UNION;  IT  MUST  BE  PRESERVED"  »i 

violently  as  they  opposed  one  another  politically,  they 
agreed  perfectly  as  to  the  preservation  and  defense  of 
the  Union.  In  his  defense  of  the  Constitution,  Webster 
here  appeared  at  his  best.  The  "Liberty  and  Union," 
of  which  he  spoke  with  such  enduring  eloquence,  were 
to  him  at  that  time,  and  always,  "one  and  inseparable," 
in  the  same  sublime  sense  of  those  terms,  as  to  the  brave 
men  who  died,  with  his  son,  a  generation  later,  that  the 
"Nation  might  live." 

To  this  sentiment,  so  "dear  to  every  true  American 
heart,"  there  was  no  response  at  the  time  more  patriotic 
than  that  which  came  from  the  White  House.  However 
much  Calhoun  and  his  devoted  followers  might  except 
to  Webster's  interpretation  of  the  Constitution,  they 
knew  too  well  the  folly  of  attempting  to  dispute  with 
Andrew  Jackson  the  question  of  its  supremacy  and 
enforcement.  Confronted  by  this  formidable  alliance, 
and  for  the  purpose  of  making  as  graceful  a  retreat  as 
possible,  Calhoun  now  turned  to  Clay  for  assistance. 
The  devotion  of  the  Great  Pacificator,  to  the  Union,  was 
so  strong  that  for  the  sake  of  quieting  the  storm  he  was 
not  only  willing  to  sacrifice  the  protective  features  of 
his  "American  System"  and  accept  in  its  stead  a  tariff 
for  revenue  only,  but  was  able  to  secure  the  adoption 
of  the  idea  as  a  peace  measure.  As  a  result  of  this 
alliance,  a  controversy  arose  between  the  adherents  of 
these  two  men  as  to  the  motives  that  prompted  its 
formation,  which  increased  in  bitterness  until  it  was 
taken  up  by  the  principals  themselves,  and  finally 
culminated  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  in  an  exhibition 
equally  disgraceful  at  the  time,  as  it  was  later,  regret- 
table to  both. 

Majestic  as  Webster  appears,  and  incalculable  as 
we  know  his  services  at  this  time  to  have  been  to  the 
cause  of  the  Union,  it  must,  nevertheless,  be  said  that 
but  for  the  commanding  proclamation  of  Andrew  Jack- 
son and  the  compromise  legislation  initiated  by  Henry 
Clay,  his  eyes  would  hardly  have  been  spared  to  look 


at  THEWHIGPARTY 

upon  the  picture  which  he  was,  even  then,  unwilling  to 
contemplate. 

The  popularity  of  these  two  great  leaders  had  now 
risen  to  its  Nth  power.  With  the  cheers  of  their  idola- 
trous followers  ringing  in  their  ears,  and  the  attention 
of  the  nation  focused  more  intently  upon  them  than 
ever  before,  they  turned  from  the  settlement  of  the 
nullification  proceedings,  to  take  up,  with  renewed 
energy  and  ferocity,  the  fight  in  regard  to  the  re-charter- 
ing of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  In  this  contest, 
Webster  and  Calhoun,  under  the  leadership  of  Clay, 
united  in  a  common  warfare  upon  the  President. 

Jackson's  supporters  controlled  the  House  by  a 
large  majority,  but  in  the  Senate  they  were  in  the 
minority.  The  struggle  that  followed  was  one  of  the 
most  exciting,  and  in  many  respects,  the  most  extra- 
ordinary in  the  history  of  our  country.  It  was  truly  a 
battle  of  the  giants.  Benton  led  the  administration 
forces  in  the  Senate,  and  except  the  voting,  did  most  of 
the  fighting  himself.  The  opposition  fought  heroically 
and  for  what  they  believed  to  be  right,  but  they  could 
not  replace  the  deposits  nor  prevent  the  distribution  of 
the  surplus.  The  best  they  could  do  was  to  censure  the 
President  and  reject  his  nominations.  This  of  course 
nettled  Jackson  greatly,  but  he  had  won  his  point — he 
had  destroyed  the  financial  monster,  the  United  States 
Bank,  and  with  this  he  was  satisfied. 

For  the  immediate  evils  that  followed  in  the  train 
of  this  reckless  legislation  no  blame  can  attach  to  Clay 
and  his  followers. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  the  opposition  party 
received  its  baptismal  name.  In  February,  1834,  James 
Watson  Webb,  editor  of  the  New  York  Commercial 
Enquirer,  suggested  the  name  "Whig,"  for  the  reason, 
as  he  said,  that  the  party  was  pledged  to  resist  arbitrary 
government,  as  the  English  Whigs  had  resisted  royal 
tyranny.  About  the  same  time,  in  referring  to  a 
municipal  election  in  New  York  City,  Clay,  among 
other  things  said : 


A    POLITICAL    CHRISTENING  13 

"This  election  has  been  a  brilliant  and  signal  triumph 
for  the  Whigs.  They  have  assumed  for  themselves,  and 
bestowed  upon  their  opponents,  a  name  which  according  to 
the  analogy  of  history  is  strictly  correct.  The  Tories  were 
the  supporters  of  executive  power,  of  royal  prerogative,  of  the 
maxim  that  'the  King  could  do  no  wrong.'  The  Whigs  were 
the  champions  of  liberty,  and  the  friends  of  the  people.  The 
Tories  took  sides  with  the  King  against  liberty;  the  Whigs, 
against  royal  executive  power  and  for  freedom  and  independ- 
ence. And  what  is  the  present,  but  the  same  contest  in  an- 
other form?  The  partisans  of  the  present  Executive  sustain 
his  power  to  the  most  boundless  extent.  The  Whigs  are 
opposing  Executive  encroachment  and  a  most  alarming  ex- 
tension of  Executive  power  and  prerogative.  They  are  con- 
tending for  the  rights  of  the  people,  for  free  institutions,  for 
the  supremacy  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws." 

With  this  acceptance  by  its  great  leader,  the  party 
readily  adopted  the  new  name,  but  its  attempt  to  force 
upon  the  opposition  the  name  of  "Tory"  was  altogether 
unsuccessful.  They  soon  had  occasion  to  learn,  how- 
ever, that  in  politics,  at  least,  there  was  no  particular 
potency  in  a  name,  and  that  without  organization  a 
party  was  little  more  than  a  name. 

"After  the  election  of  1832,"  says  Prof.  Alexander 
Johnson,  "the  party,  regardless  of  principle,  began  a 
general  course  of  beating  up  recruits,  which  was  the 
bane  of  the  organization  throughout  its  entire  existence. 
No  delegate  could  come  amiss  to  their  convention;  the 
original  Adams  Republicans,  the  South  Carolina  Nulli- 
fiers,  the  anti-Masons  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania, 
the  States  Rights  delegate  from  Georgia,  and  the 
general  mass  of  dissatisfied  voters  from  everywhere, 
found  a  secure  refuge  in  its  conventions,  where  awkward 
questions  were  never  asked  nor  special  attention  given 
to  political  principles,"  an  organization,  indeed,  that 
might  be  likened  unto  a  certain  other  party  of  a  much 
earlier  history,  which  included  "every  one  that  was  in 
distress,  and  every  one  that  was  in  debt,  and  every  one 
that  was  discontented." 

It  was  in  this  distracted  condition  that  the  party 
entered  the  campaign  of  1836.  Without  holding  a 


24  THE    WHIG    PARTY 

National  Convention,  it  decided  to  place  several  candi- 
dates in  the  field  with  the  hope  that  from  the  strength 
these  leaders  would  develop  in  their  respective  locali- 
ties, a  majority  of  the  electors  might  thus  be  chosen, 
who,  in  turn,  would  unite  in  the  selection  of  the  strong- 
est of  these  candidates.  Hugh  L.  White  of  Tennessee, 
Daniel  Webster  of  Massachusetts,  John  McLean  and 
William  H.  Harrison,  both  of  Ohio,  and  the  last  of  whom 
was  also  the  anti-Masonic  candidate,  where  placed  in 
the  field,  and  the  party  stood  calmly  by,  awaiting  the 
results.  The  Democratic  party  was  in  splendid  order, 
and  its  candidate,  Van  Buren,  whom  Jackson  had 
named  as  his  political  heir,  was  chosen  by  a  majority 
of  46  from  all  competitors. 

On  the  4th  day  of  March,  1837,  Andrew  Jackson 
retired  from  the  presidency,  as  one  would  suppose,  a 
supremely  happy  man.  He  had  ruled  with  a  rod  of 
iron  for  eight  years,  carrying  his  triumphs  to  the  very 
end,  despite  the  efforts  of  the  most  brilliant  array  of 
talent  ever  marshalled  in  American  history;  every  one 
of  his  favorite  measures  were  enacted,  and  through  it 
all,  he  enjoyed  a  popularity  greater  than  any  man  of  his 
time,  and  now,  upon  his  retirement,  he  was  able  to  hand 
over  the  reigns  of  government  to  the  most  tractable  and 
promising  of  his  followers.  "To  this  day,  we  are  told," 
says  John  Fiske,  "there  is  some  happy  valley  in  western 
Pennsylvania,  the  precise  location  of  which  is  not  too 
strictly  indicated,  where  old  men,  every  fourth  year  in 
the  month  of  November,  still  hobble  to  the  polls  and 
drop  into  the  ballot  box  their  loyal  vote  for  Andrew 
Jackson." 

Whether  Jackson  could  have  controlled  the  con- 
flagration that  he  had  lighted,  and  that  seemed  to 
scorch  his  very  heels,  as  he  retired  from  office,  I  do  not 
know,  but  it  may  be  stated  as  an  accepted  fact  of 
history,  that  Martin  Van  Buren  was  unable  to  do  so. 

Since  the  days  of  Washington,  no  president  at  the 
outset  had  faced  a  more  distressing  political  situation 
than  that  which  confronted  Van  Buren.  The  ruinous 


THE    PANIC    OF    1837  »5 

effects  of  Jackson's  financiering  were  felt  everywhere. 
The  extravagance  and  speculation  that  followed  the 
withdrawal  of  the  deposits  and  the  distribution  of  the 
surplus,  culminated  in  the  financial  crash  of  1837. 
Distress  petitions  from  all  parts  of  the  country  poured 
in  upon  the  Cabinet  at  every  meeting.  Van  Buren 
faced  this  calamity  with  the  fortitude  and  firmness  of  a 
veteran,  and  did  all  within  his  power  to  restore  confi- 
dence and  relieve  the  money  market,  but  there  was  no 
relief.  The  distress  was  widespread,  and  fairly  appalling 
in  its  intensity.  The  popular  clamor  against  the  admin- 
istration was  deafening,  and  high  above  all,  rang  out  the 
cry  of  the  exultant  Whigs,  "We  told  you  so!"  All  the 
acts  of  the  administration,  good,  bad  and  indifferent, 
were  denounced  with  equal  fluency  and  vehemence. 
The  new  party  began  to  gain  ground.  It  carried  Ten- 
nessee, the  ex-president's  state,  and  followed  this  up 
with  a  victory  in  New  York,  the  president's  state.  Led 
on  by  Clay  and  Webster,  the  Whigs  opposed  the 
Independent  Treasury  bill,  and  with  the  assistance  of  a 
few  Bank  Democrats,  were  able,  for  the  time,  to  prevent 
it  becoming  a  law.  Benton,  however,  brought  up  the 
bill  at  the  next  session,  fought  it  through  the  Senate 
with  an  increased  majority,  and  succeeded,  after  a 
bitter  contest,  in  getting  it  through  the  House.  From 
that  time  until  this,  with  but  one  exception,  the  Sub- 
Treasury  Law  has  stood  as  the  one  distinguishing 
feature  of  our  financial  system.  Time  has  proven  its 
efficacy,  and  acknowledged  the  wisdom  and  statesman- 
ship of  its  author,  but  the  people  of  1840  were  not  in  a 
state  of  mind  to  consider  or  appreciate  either  of  these 
qualities  in  Martin  Van  Buren. 

On  the  4th  day  of  December,  1839,  the  Whig  party 
met  in  convention  at  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania,  to 
nominate  its  candidates  for  the  approaching  election. 
Availability,  even  at  this  early  stage,  was  the  watchword 
of  the  party,  and  Clay,  who  confidently  expected  and 
was  clearly  entitled  to  the  nomination,  was  defeated  by 
a  successfully  planned  trick  of  General  Harrison's 


26  THEWHIGPARTY 

friends,  under  the  leadership  of  Thurlow  Weed,  who  at 
that  time  was  the  leader  of  the  Whig  forces  in  New 
York,  and  perhaps  the  most  consummate  politician  in 
the  party.  John  Tyler,  of  Virginia,  a  dissatisfied 
Democrat,  but  now  an  ardent  follower  of  Clay,  was 
nominated  for  vice  president,  partly,  as  Weed  afterward 
said,  "because  they  could  get  nobody  else  to  accept," 
but  rather,  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  votes  for  the 
ticket  from  the  discontented  in  the  ranks  of  the  opposi- 
tion. No  platform  or  declaration  of  principles  was 
adopted,  no  resolutions  passed  or  addresses  issued  at 
which  any  of  the  malcontents  might  take  offense.  It  was 
simply  a  case  of  "anything  to  beat  Van  Buren."  Clay 
was  utterly  cast  down  at  his  defeat.  "My  friends  are 
not  worth  the  powder  that  it  would  take  to  kill  them," 
he  said.  "If  there  were  two  Henry  Clays,  one  of  them 
would  make  the  other  President  of  the  United  States. 
I  am  the  most  unfortunate  man  in  the  history  of  the 
parties, — always  run  by  my  friends  when  sure  to  be 
defeated,  and  now  betrayed  for  nomination  when  I, 
or  any  one  else  would  be  sure  of  election." 

In  this  connection,  a  similar  incident  is  told  of  the 
great  man,  who,  more  nearly  than  any  one  of  his  genera- 
tion, may  be  likened  to  Henry  Clay.  Col.  McClure 
relates  that  shortly  after  his  nomination  for  the  presi- 
dency in  1884,  Mr.  Elaine,  while  talking  with  a  special 
correspondent  of  the  "Times,"  said  "Clay  was  defeated 
in  two  conventions  when  he  could  have  been  elected 
president,  and  he  was  nominated  for  president  when  his 
competitor  was  elected,  and  that  competitor  was  one 
who  had  not  been  publicly  discussed  as  a  presidential 
candidate  before  the  meeting  of  the  convention  in  1844. 
I  was  defeated  in  two  conventions  when  I  could  have 
been  elected;  I  am  nominated  now  with  a  competitor, 
alike  obscure  with  the  competitor  of  Clay,"  and  con- 
cluded by  repeating  "1844-1884,"  in  a  manner  that 
seemed  to  indicate  that,  like  the  Great  Pacificator,  he, 
too,  would  fail  in  the  realization  of  his  fondest  hopes. 


"TIPPECANOE    AND    TYLER,   TOO"  27 

Van  Buren  was  nominated  six  months  later  upon  a 
Strict  Construction  platform,  the  first  pronouncement 
of  its  kind  in  national  politics,  the  most  prominent 
planks  of  which  were  those  which  denied  the  power  of 
Congress  to  re-charter  the  National  Bank,  to  protect 
manufacturers  by  a  revenue  tariff,  and  to  carry  on 
public  improvements  at  the  expense  of  the  nation.  A 
slavery  plank,  the  first  of  its  kind  in  politics  which 
declared  against  the  interference  of  slavery  in  the 
states  was  also  inserted.  The  campaign  that  followed, 
which  the  Democrats  characterized  as  one  of  "noise, 
numbers,  and  nonsense,"  was  a  wild  delirium  of  "hard 
cider,  log  cabins  and  coonskins."  There  was  much  the 
same  enthusiasm  displayed  for  Harrison,  as  had 
characterized  the  Jackson  campaigns.  Meetings  were 
measured  by  acres  of  men,  one  of  the  most  memorable 
being  held  upon  the  battlefield  of  Tippecanoe.  These 
gatherings  were  addressed  by  the  greatest  men  of  the 
party,  which,  perhaps,  in  its  entire  career,  was  now  at 
its  best.  Among  these  speakers  were  Clay,  Webster, 
Corwin,  Ewing,  Prentiss,  Choate,  Clayton,  Reverdy 
Johnson,  Edward  Everett,  and  a  host  of  others,  scarcely 
less  prominent.  As  descriptive  of  the  fervor  with 
which  this  entire  campaign  was  conducted,  I  am  happy 
to  quote  from  our  distinguished  fellow  members, 
Messrs.  Randall  and  Ryan,  who,  in  their  admirable 
History  of  Ohio,  state  that: 

"Of  all  the  meetings  of  this  campaign,  that  of  September 
loth,  held  at  Dayton,  was  the  greatest  in  numbers,  as  well  as 
the  most  effective  in  its  influence,  throughout  the  country. 
It  has  not  been  equalled  since  in  the  history  of  politics.  The 
present  generation,  notwithstanding  its  cheap  transportation 
and  increased  population,  has  furnished  no  meeting  to  rival 
it.  The  Brough-Vallandingham  campaign  in  1863  more 
nearly  approached  that  of  1840  in  the  deep  interest  and  en- 
thusiasm manifested  by  the  people,  but  it  furnished  no  such 
counterpart  as  that  of  General  Harrison's  meeting  at  Dayton. 
With  a  due  regard  to  the  historic,  the  anniversary  of  Perry's 
victory  on  Lake  Erie  was  the  date  fixed  upon.  The  memor- 
able message  of  the  young  commodore  to  his  commander-in- 
chief  was  on  every  tongue,  and  there  was  a  patriotic  revival 
of  the  memories  of  General  Harrison's  military  life. 


28  THE    WHIG    PARTY 

The  approach  of  General  Harrison  to  Dayton  was  a 
series  of  triumphal  marches  from  his  home  at  North  Bend. 
Vast  multitudes  followed  along  the  roadside  all  the  way  on 
foot  and  horseback.  As  to  the  meeting  itself,  it  can  only  be 
accounted  for  on  the  theory  that  the  people  had  taken  up  his 
election  as  a  mission.  It  had  developed  into  a  crusade,  and 
time,  distance,  weather,  or  transportation  were  not  taken  into 
consideration.  The  multitude  covered  ten  acres  by  actual 
measurement.  While  General  Harrison  was  speaking,  ac- 
cording to  Miles*  National  Register,  (September  26,  and 
October  3,  1840),  the  ground  upon  which  the  crowd  stood  was 
measured  by  three  different  civil  engineers.  Allowing  four 
persons  to  a  square  yard,  the  three  estimates  placed  the 
numbers  at  seventy-five  thousand,  six  hundred;  seventy- 
five  thousand,  and  eighty  thousand  respectively." 

The  people  wanted  a  change,  and  they  got  what 
they  wanted.  When  the  result  of  the  election  was 
known,  it  was  about  as  the  Whigs  had  put  it  when 
they  sang,  "Van,  Van,  he's  a  used-up  man." 

Nineteen  states,  with  two  hundred  and  thirty-four 
electors  voted  for  Harrison,  while  Van  Buren  received 
but  sixty  votes  from  six  states.  Tom  Corwin  was 
elected  governor  of  Ohio  at  this  time  by  sixteen  thou- 
sand majority.  The  Whigs  were  wild  with  delight.  They 
could  hardly  wait  for  inauguration,  but  the  day  finally 
came,  and  on  the  4th  of  March,  1841,  the  Whig  party, 
with  its  hopes  pitched  to  the  highest  point  of  expect- 
ancy, assumed  control  of  the  government.  The  day  of 
deliverance,  that  would  witness  the  inauguration  of  all 
their  pet  policies  of  Bank  and  Tariff  was  come.  With 
Clay  as  their  high  priest  to  frame  and  secure  the  passage 
of  these  laws,  and  a  pliant  executive  to  approve  and 
enforce  them,  the  future  teemed  with  promise  of 
abounding  prosperity  for  the  country,  and  long-con- 
tinued place  and  power  for  the  party. 

President  Harrison  selected  an  exceptionally  able 
Cabinet,  and  in  his  public  utterances  meagerly  out- 
lined a  policy  that  promised  much  for  the  administra- 
tion. A  special  session  of  Congress  was  called,  to  meet 
May  3  ist,  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  financial 
situation.  A  few  days  after  issuing  this  call,  President 
Harrison  died,  and  John  Tyler  became  president. 


JOHN    TYLER,    OPPORTUNIST  V) 

General  Harrison  was  68  years  of  age  at  the  time  of 
his  election,  and  from  the  hardships  through  which  he 
had  passed,  was  physically  unable  to  meet  the  exactions 
that  were  put  upon  him.  In  an  endeavor  to  meet  and 
greet  his  exuberant  friends,  the  greater  part  of  whom 
seemed  to  think  that  their  services  were  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  success  of  his  administration,  the  old 
warrior  literally  wore  himself  out.  This  was  a  grievous 
disappointment  to  the  Whigs,  but  it  was  only  a  fore- 
taste of  what  they  were  to  endure. 

Tyler's  record  had  been  badly  mixed.  He  had 
floundered  around  in  the  Democratic  party  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  with  no  policy  more  firmly  fixed  than  that 
of  a  personal  opposition  to  Jackson,  and  had  been 
placed  on  the  ticket  after  Webster  had  declined  the 
honor,  for  the  sake  of  bringing  in  the  votes  of  dis- 
gruntled Democrats  like  himself. 

"He  has  been  called  a  mediocre  man,"  says  one  of 
his  successors  who,  like  him,  reached  the  presidency  by 
accident,  "but  this  is  unwarranted  flattery.  He  was  a 
politician  of  monumental  littleness,  whose  chief  mental, 
and  moral  attributes,  were  peevishness,  fiftul  obstinacy, 
inconsistency,  incapacity  to  make  up  his  own  mind,  and 
the  ability  to  quibble  indefinitely  over  the  most  micro- 
scopic and  hair-splitting  play  upon  words,  together  with 
an  inordinate  vanity  that  so  blinded  him  to  all  outside 
feeling  as  to  make  him  really  think  that  he  would  again 
be  nominated  for  the  presidency."  In  other  words,  had 
Tyler  lived  at  some  later  day,  according  to  this  same 
authority,  he  would  have  taken  high  rank  in  that  select 
company  of  distinguished,  though  unenviable  public 
men  that  were  put  down  respectively  as  "jackasses, 
molly-coddles  and  honey-fugglers." 

In  his  estimate  of  this  man,  with  whom  the  Whig 
leaders  were  obliged  to  work  out  their  legislative 
program,  John  Fiske  says: 

"As  for  Tyler,  while  we  cannot  call  him  a  great  man, 
and  while  for  breadth  of  view  and  sound  grasp  of  fundamen- 
tal principles  he  is  immeasurably  below  Van  Buren,  at  the 


30  THEWHIGPARTY 

same  time  he  is  not  so  trivial  a  personage  as  his  detractors 
would  have  us  believe.  He  was  honest  and  courageous,  and 
in  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Clay's  theory  of  government  he  played 
an  important  and  useful  part.  If  he  is  small  as  compared 
with  Jackson  and  Van  Buren,  he  is  great  as  compared  with 
Pierce  and  Buchanan.'* 

Tyler  retained  Harrison's  cabinet.  A  bill  was 
hurried  through  Congress  abolishing  the  Sub-Treasury 
Act,  which  the  President  as  hurriedly  signed.  A  Bank- 
ruptcy Bill  was  next  enacted;  then  a  Distribution  Bill, 
which  divided  among  the  states  the  money  from  the 
sale  of  public  lands.  These  last  two  measures  were 
shortly  afterwards  repealed.  The  great  measure  of  the 
session,  which  was  to  be  the  chief  glory  of  the  Whig 
administration,  was  a  bill  to  re-establish  the  National 
Bank.  The  bill  had  smooth  sailing  until  it  reached  the 
President's  desk.  Tyler  vetoed  the  measure,  and  justi- 
fied the  act  upon  constitutional  grounds. 

The  Whigs  were  now  both  angry  and  disappointed, 
but  they  prepared  another  bill,  hoping  thus  to  overcome 
his  objections,  and  to  obviate  further  collision  with  the 
President.  Tyler  vetoed  this  bill  too,  closing  his  mes- 
sage, however,  with  an  earnest  plea  for  party  harmony. 
This  was  too  much  for  the  Whig  leaders.  They  read 
the  President  out  of  the  party,  and  all  the  cabinet  (Bell, 
Badger,  Ewing,  Granger  and  Crittenden)  but  Webster, 
resigned  two  days  before  the  adjournment  of  Congress, 
and  joined  in  the  general  chorus  of  his  condemnation. 
For  his  refusal  to  resign  and  join  in  this  denuncia- 
tion, Webster  was  roundly  abused  by  the  party  leaders, 
to  which  he  replied  in  an  open  letter  in  these  words: 

"Lest  any  misapprehension  should  exist,  as  to  the 
reasons  which  have  led  me  to  differ  from  the  course  pursued 
by  my  late  colleagues,  I  wish  to  say  that  I  remain  in  my 
place,  first,  because  I  have  seen  no  sufficient  reasons  for  the 
dissolution  of  the  late  Cabinet  by  the  voluntary  act  of  its 
own  members. 

"In  the  second  place,  if  I  had  seen  reasons  to  resign  my 
office,  I  should  not  have  done  so  without  giving  the  President 
reasonable  notice,  and  affording  him  time  to  select  the  hands 
to  which  he  should  confide  the  delicate  and  important  affairs 
now  pending  in  this  Department." 


WEBSTER'S    POSITION  31 

Throughout  all  the  confusion  that  now  raged  within 
the  party,  Webster,  to  his  great  credit,  remained  calmly 
and  courageously  at  his  post,  until  the  treaty  that  bears 
his  name  and  that  of  the  great  English  statesman  with 
whom  it  was  negotiated,  was  adopted  by  both  countries. 
Whatever  his  distinguished  compeers  might  be  pleased 
to  say  or  do,  he  was  hardly  the  man  that  would  sacrifice 
or  compromise  any  duty  imposed  upon  him  as  a  public 
servant,  for  the  purpose  of  participating  in  either  a 
partisan,  or  personal  contest,  and  especially  so,  when 
Henry  Clay  was  to  be  the  chief  beneficiary  of  such  a 
performance. 

Immediately  following  his  retirement  from  the 
cabinet,  he  returned  to  Massachusetts,  to  answer  the 
charge  of  political  apostasy  that  had  been  brought 
against  him,  where  he  drove  his  detractors  from  the 
field  and  assumed  anew  the  leadership  of  the  party  in 
New  England.  "I  am  a  Whig,"  he  said,  "a  Massa- 
chusetts Whig;  a  Boston  Whig;  a  Faneuil  Hall  Whig; 
and  if  any  man  within  the  reach  of  my  voice  wishes  to 
read  me  out  of  the  pale  of  that  communion,  let  him 
begin  here,  now,  and  we  will  see  who  goes  first." 

A  new  tariff  bill  was  framed  by  the  Whigs  and 
passed  both  Houses,  only  to  be  disapproved  by  the 
President.  The  Whigs  were  now  exasperated  beyond 
all  expression.  They  prepared  a  third  bill,  leaving  out 
the  clause  most  obnoxious  to  the  President,  which  he 
approved,  and  has  since  been  known  as  the  Tariff  of 
1842.  Von  Hoist  sums  up  the  situation  about  this 
time  as  follows: 

"Half  a  year  had  passed  since  the  Whigs  had  taken  hold 
of  the  helm  and  the  unprincipled  policy  which  had  selected 
"change"  for  its  program  in  order  to  bring  all  the  elements 
of  the  opposition  under  one  captain,  had  reaped  a  rich  har- 
vest. The  breach  between  the  party  and  the  President  had 
taken  place. 

"On  the  left  was  the  Democratic  party,  full  of  contempt 
for  the  two-faced  renegadism  of  the  President, but  making  the 
most  of  it,  without  the  moral  responsibility  of  the  governing 
majority  but  exercising  a  greater  influence  than  a  minority 
ever  did  before;  in  the  center  the  Chief  of  the  Republic,  sur- 


3»  THEWHIGPARTY 

rounded  by  a  little  crowd  of  unscrupulous  aspirants,  vainly 
wearing  himself  out  in  the  endeavor,  with  the  help  of  the 
spoils  cement,  to  form  a  compound  of  both  parties'  program, 
as  the  basis  of  a  Tyler  party;  to  the  right  the  Whigs,  blindly 
embittered  by  their  own  powerless  supremacy,  grasping  at 
the  radical  Democratic  thunder  of  their  opponents,  and  per- 
verting the  principle  of  resistance  to  the  usurpation  of  the 
Executive,  into  the  principle  of  the  establishment  of  the 
Omnipotence  of  Congress." 

Of  this  condition,  and  the  manner  in  which  it 
affected  the  country,  McMasters  says : 

"That  the  excitement  wrought  by  the  irregular  cam- 
paign of  1 840  should  be  followed  by  a  period  of  re-action  was 
inevitable.  Apathy  was  everywhere  visible  and  discontent 
all  but  universal.  The  fine  promises  of  the  Whig  journals 
and  Whig  orators  had  not  been  fulfilled.  Wages  had  not 
increased;  times  had  not  grown  better;  the  currency  was 
still  in  disorder;  most  of  the  banks  refused  to  pay  in  specie; 
the  debts  of  the  states  were  increasing;  mills  and  factories 
were  closing  down;  and  in  place  of  '$2.00  a  day  and  roast 
beef,'  we  have,  said  the  Democrats,  'ten  cents  a  day  and 
bean  soup.'  The  change  for  which  Webster  said  the  people 
longed,  the  change  from  hard  times  to  easy  times,  from  a  bad 
currency  to  good  currency,  from  heavy  taxes  to  light  taxes, 
from  low  wages  to  high  wages,  from  general  depression  to 
prosperity  had  not  yet  come  about.  Angry  and  disappointed, 
the  people  came  rapidly  to  what  Van  Buren  called  the  sober 
second  thought,  and  at  the  time  of  the  election  of  1841  de- 
serted the  Whigs  by  thousands." 

From  this  testimony  it  would  seem  that  our  grand- 
fathers were  fully  acquainted  with  the  merits  of  the  full 
dinner  pail  and  bread  line  argument. 

Humiliated  and  spurned  by  the  President  whose 
personal  following,  though  "only  a  corporal's  guard,"  as 
Clay  said,  was  yet  large  enough  when  acting  with  the 
minority  party  to  defeat  any  measure  the  majority 
leaders  might  favor,  Clay's  influence,  as  Benton  graph- 
ically said,  "was  dissipated  until  he  found  himself  a 
dreg  in  the  party  for  which  for  years  he  had  been  the 
conspicuous  leader."  The  situation  finally  became  so 
intolerable  that  he  resigned  his  place  in  the  Senate,  and 
on  the  3  ist  day  of  March,  1842 — less  than  a  year  from 
the  death  of  General  Harrison — Clay,  at  the  conclusion 


THE    TEXAS    QUESTION  33 

of  a  speech  of  dramatic  intensity,  retired  to  the  peace 
and  quiet  of  his  beautiful  home  at  Ashland,  It  would 
be  alike  unfair  to  the  chivalrous  spirit  of  Clay  and  the 
beautiful  character  of  Calhoun,  if  it  were  not  noted  in 
connection  with  this  valedictory  address,  that  at  its 
conclusion  the  great  South  Carolinian,  although  he  had 
not  spoken  to  the  great  Kentuckian  for  years  as  a  result 
of  the  quarrel  over  the  respective  parts  they  had 
played  in  the  settlement  of  the  nullification  pro- 
ceedings, rose  from  his  seat,  walked  over  to  Clay  and 
extended  his  hand,  which,  it  is  needless  to  say,  was 
grasped  with  the  same  cordiality  that  had  characterized 
their  early  years  of  public  service. 

In  the  midst  of  this  the  Texas  question  loomed  up, 
to  add  to  the  disorder.  Annexation  was  one  of  Tyler's 
ruling  passions,  and  as  soon  as  Webster  retired  from  his 
cabinet  he  set  his  successor  to  work  to  conclude  the 
treaty.  Calhoun  finally  arranged  the  terms,  and  the 
bill  was  sent  to  the  Senate.  Here,  to  the  extreme  disgust 
of  Tyler,  the  treaty  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  35  to  16. 
From  this  time  forward  until  Appomattox,  the  slavery 
question,  in  some  horrid  form  or  other,  was  continually 
before  the  public. 

As  Tyler's  term  neared  its  close,  the  parties  made 
ready  for  the  selection  of  his  successor.  The  first 
nominations  made,  were  those  of  the  Liberal  party,  a 
straight-out,  anti-slavery  organization,  made  up  largely, 
of  northern  Whigs  under  the  direction  of  Salmon  P. 
Chase,  John  P.  Hale  and  others.  Its  candidates  were 
James  G.  Birney,  an  ex-slaveholder  of  Kentucky,  and 
Thomas  Morris,  of  Ohio. 

On  the  first  of  May,  1844,  the  Whig  Convention 
met  at  Baltimore,  and  without  the  formality  of  a  ballot 
Clay  was  nominated  by  acclamation,  amidst  the  wildest 
enthusiasm.  For  the  first  time  in  its  history  the  party 
adopted  a  platform.  It  was  a  "loose  construction" 
document  from  first  to  last,  favoring  a  National  Cur- 
rency and  Protective  Tariff,  and  a  distribution  of  the 
surplus  revenues  among  the  states.  Nothing  was  said 


34  THEWHIGPARTY 

regarding  Texas.  That  was  all  left  for  the  candidate  to 
do.  It  was  expected  that  Van  Buren  would  be  the 
Democratic  nominee,  but  as  his  views  on  the  Texas 
question  were  not  pleasing  to  the  Southern  members  of 
the  party,  Calhoun  and  Walker,  with  the  co-operation 
of  certain  influential  leaders  from  the  North,  set  about 
systematically  to  defeat  him  on  the  one  hand,  and  to 
nominate  in  his  stead  some  one  favoring  annexation. 
The  success  with  which  this  work  was  done  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  the  platform  not  only  favored  the  annexa- 
tion of  Texas  at  the  earliest  practical  period,  but  also 
tendered  to  Martin  Van  Buren  "in  honorable  retirement 
the  assurance  of  the  deep-seated  confidence,  affection 
and  respect  of  the  American  Democracy." 

Although  Van  Buren  had  a  majority  of  the  dele- 
gates, he  was  unable,  under  the  two-thirds  rule,  for  the 
adoption  of  which  more  than  any  other  man  of  the 
party  he  was  responsible,  to  secure  the  nomination, 
which  went  to  James  K.  Polk  of  Tennessee,  who  was 
vouched  for  as  "a  whole-hogged  Democrat,"  the  first 
"dark  horse"  to  win  in  such  a  race. 

Clay  was  at  first  opposed  to  the  annexation,  but  he 
experienced  a  change  of  heart  when  it  was  seen  that  this 
attitude  would  cost  him  votes  in  the  South,  and  he 
wrote  in  his  Alabama  letter  as  follows:  "Personally  I 
could  have  no  objection  to  the  annexation  of  Texas." 
At  another  time  he  said,  "I  have,  however,  no  hesitation 
in  saying  that  far  from  any  personal  objections  to  the 
annexation  of  Texas,  I  should  be  glad  to  see  it,  without 
dishonor,  without  war,  with  the  common  consent  of  the 
Union,  and  upon  just  and  fair  terms." 

Clay  wanted  to  be  president  very  badly,  and  for  a 
time  it  seemed  that  he  would  have  an  easy  victory,  but 
these  utterances  weakened  him  where  he  was  strong, 
without  strengthening  him  where  he  was  weak.  The 
annexation  people  could  not  trust  him,  nor  would  the 
opponents  of  annexation.  The  new  Liberty  party 
attacked  him  secretly,  and  drew  heavily  from  his 
supporters  in  the  close  states.  Clay  did  his  best  to 


JACKSON    AND    CLAY— AN  ESTIMATE  35 

explain  and  reconcile  his  position  with  the  sentiments 
expressed  in  these  letters,  but  to  no  purpose.  He 
received  but  105  electoral  votes  as  against  170  for  Polk. 
The  Liberty  party  failed  to  carry  a  single  state,  but  if 
Clay  had  received  the  votes  that  were  cast  for  its 
candidate  in  New  York  and  Michigan,  in  addition  to 
those  actually  cast  for  him,  he  would  have  been  elected. 
It  was  a  terrible  blow  to  Clay,  who  realized  when  it  was 
too  late  that  this  defeat  had  come  wholly  and  solely 
because  he  had  been  untrue  to  himself. 

In  the  gloom  and  disaster  of  this  defeat,  some 
heart-broken  admirer  told  the  whole  story  truthfully 
when  he  said  that  "Henry  Clay  could  get  more  men  to 
run  after  him  to  hear  him  speak,  and  fewer  men  to  vote 
for  him  than  any  man  in  America." 

Concerning  this  campaign,  and  in  summarizing  the 
political  activities  of  the  two  great  men  who  faced  each 
other  here  for  the  last  time,  Mr.  Elaine  says : 

"No  contest  for  the  presidency,  either  before  or  since, 
has  been  conducted  with  such  intense  energy  and  such  deep 
feeling.  Mr.  Clay's  followers  were  not  ordinary  political 
supporters.  They  had  the  profound  personal  attachment 
which  is  looked  for  only  in  hereditary  governments,  where 
loyalty  becomes  a  passion,  and  is  blind  and  unreasoning  in 
its  adherence  and  its  devotion.  The  logical  complement  of 
such  ardent  fidelity  is  an  opposition  marked  by  unscrupulous 
rancor.  This  case  proved  no  exception.  The  love  of  Mr. 
Clay's  friends  was  equaled  by  the  hatred  of  his  foes.  The 
zeal  of  his  supporters  did  not  surpass  the  zeal  of  his  op- 
ponents. All  the  enmities  and  exasperations  which  began 
in  the  memorable  contest  for  the  presidency  when  John 
Quincy  Adams  was  chosen,  and  had  grown  into  great  propor- 
tions during  the  long  intervening  period,  were  fought  out  on 
the  angry  field  of  1844. 

Mr.  Polk,  a  moderate  and  amiable  man,  did  not  represent 
the  acrimonious  character  of  the  controversy.  He  stood  only 
as  the  passive  representative  of  its  principles.  Behind  him 
was  Jackson,  aged  and  infirm  in  body,  but  strong  in  mind, 
and  unbroken  in  spirit.  With  him  the  struggle  was  not  only 
one  of  principle,  but  of  pride;  not  merely  of  judgment,  but 
of  temper;  and  he  communicated  to  the  legions  throughout 
the  country,  who  regarded  him  with  reverence  and  gratitude, 
a  full  measure  of  his  own  animosity  against  Clay.  In  its 


36  THEWHIGPARTY 

progress  the  struggle  absorbed  the  thought,  the  action,  the 
passion,  of  the  whole  people.  When  its  result  was  known,  the 
Whigs  regarded  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Clay,  not  only  as  a  calam- 
ity of  untold  magnitude  to  the  country,  but  as  a  personal 
and  profound  grief,  which  touched  the  heart  as  deeply  as  the 
understanding.  It  was  Jackson's  final  triumph  over  Clay. 
The  iron-nerved  old  hero  died  in  seven  months  after  this 
crowning  gratification  of  his  life." 

In  his  inaugural  address,  President  Polk  said  that 
"the  enlargement  of  the  Union  would  be  the  extension 
of  the  dominions  of  peace  over  additional  territories  of 
millions."  There  was  very  little  in  his  administration, 
however,  that  would  justify  this  remark.  His  term  of 
office  was  a  stormy  one.  Upon  everything  else  but  the 
slavery  question  the  President  was  a  pronounced  strict 
constructionist.  His  views  regarding  slavery  were  very 
loose.  He  took  up  the  annexation  question  where 
Tyler  had  left  it,  and  in  December,  1845,  Texas  and  the 
Mexican  War  became  a  part  of  the  United  States.  The 
Whigs  were  opposed  to  both  of  these  acquisitions,  but 
when  they  were  acquired,  they  voted  almost  unani- 
mously to  defend  both.  They  openly  accused  Polk  of 
falsehood  about  what  he  said  as  to  the  cause  of  the  war, 
and  yet  there  were  but  14  votes  in  Congress  against  the 
bill  sustaining  the  resolution  that  war  "existed  by  the  act 
of  Mexico."  While  they  denounced  the  war  as  unjust 
and  dishonorable,  and  spoke  of  it  contemptuously  as 
"Polk's  War,"  they  voted  almost  as  a  party  for  its 
prosecution. 

By  this  time  slavery  and  its  numerous  accompani- 
ments had  become  the  all  absorbing  question  of  Ameri- 
can politics.  Hardly  any  legislation  could  be  enacted 
without  bringing  in  some  phase  of  the  troublesome 
question.  In  1846,  when  a  bill  appropriating  two  mil- 
lions of  dollars  for  the  expense  of  negotiating  peace  with 
Mexico  was  introduced  into  the  House,  David  Wilmot, 
a  Pennsylvania  Democrat,  proposed  an  amendment 
which  nationalized  his  name,  and  in  a  very  short  time 
had  the  entire  country  in  a  heat  of  excitement  and 
exasperation.  This  amendment  provided  that  slavery 


POLITICAL    MISFITS  37 

should  be  prohibited  in  the  territory  acquired  from 
Mexico,  and  was  by  far,  the  reddest  flag  that  had  been 
waved  in  the  face  of  the  slavery  beast.  The  attacks 
it  provoked  did  not  end  until  April  9,  1865.  The  bill, 
with  the  proviso,  passed  the  House,  but  was  defeated  in 
the  Senate.  The  next  year  it  was  brought  up  again  and 
defeated  in  both  Houses.  The  Whigs,  to  their  credit, 
supported  the  measure  throughout.  The  Oregon 
Boundary  question  was  settled  at  49°;  instead  of  "54°4.o', 
or  fight,"  as  the  Democrats  had  insisted  upon,  by  a 
strange  coalition  of  the  Southern  Democrats  and  the 
Whigs. 

In  the  next  Congress,  the  Whigs,  who  controlled 
the  House,  endeavored  to  pass  a  bill  embodying  the 
principles  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  but  a  number  of 
Free-State  Democrats  now  voted  against  it,  and  the 
measure  was  lost.  Both  parties  were  seriously  embar- 
rassed by  the  persistency  with  which  the  slavery  ques- 
tion was  kept  at  the  front.  Both  were  afraid  of  it,  but 
neither,  nor  both,  could  settle  it.  The  Democratic 
party  had  now  come  to  be  a  Southern  party,  led  by 
Northern  men,  while  the  Whigs  were  a  Northern  party 
under  Southern  leadership.  This  fact  was  clearly 
established  by  the  presidential  contest  of  1848,  in 
which  the  Democrats  nominated  General  Cass,  a  nega- 
tive Northern  man  with  positive  Southern  principles, 
upon  a  platform  remarkable  for  two  things :  the  obscur- 
ity of  its  strict  construction  principles,  and  the  severity 
with  which  it  abstained  from  saying  anything  re- 
garding slavery. 

Under  the  masterly  direction  of  Thurlow  Weed, 
the  Whigs,  for  a  second  time,  threw  their  principles  to 
the  wind,  and  with  no  policy  or  platform,  other  than  that 
of  expediency,  and  the  popularity  of  their  candidate, 
nominated  General  Taylor,  who  had  already  been 
named  as  the  candidate  of  the  National  American  party. 
Taylor  at  this  time  was  the  owner  of  three  hundred 
slaves.  He  had  never  voted,  and  the  clearest  expression 
he  had  ever  made  either  of  his  political  faith  or  affilia- 


38  THEWHIGPARTY 

tion,  was  the  avowal  that  "he  was  a  Whig,  though  not 
an  ultra  Whig,"  which  statement,  according  to  a  liberal 
translation  given  by  the  gifted  author  of  the  "Bigelow 
Papers,"  was  the  equivalent  of  saying: 

"  'Ez  to  my  principles, 
I  glory  in  hevin'  nothin'  of  the  sort. 
I  a'int  a  Whig;   I  a'int  a  Tory; 
I'm  just  a  candidate,  in  short." 

As  illustrative  of  the  business-like  and  energetic 
manner  in  which  Taylor  conducted  his  campaign  of 
political  neutrality,  we  quote  from  one  of  the  great 
number  of  letters  that  he  addressed  at  this  time  to  an 
inquiring  admirer,  as  follows: 

"I  have  laid  it  down  as  a  principle,  not  to  give  my  opinion 
upon,  or  pre-judge  in  any  way,  the  various  questions  now  at 
issue  between  the  political  parties  of  the  country,  nor  to 
promise  what  I  would,  or  would  not,  do." 

So  far  as  my  observation  goes,  this  is  the  only  in- 
stance in  which  a  really  formidable  candidate  has  sought 
the  presidency  solely  upon  the  grounds  that  he  wanted 
a  job.  Despite  the  nonpartisan  character  of  his  candi- 
dacy, there  were  a  large  number  of  delegates  who  feared 
that  Taylor  was  a  Democrat,  and  for  that  reason  would 
not  accept  the  nomination  as  a  Whig.  In  order  that  the 
party  might  not  be  subjected  to  any  embarrassment  of 
this  kind,  Lewis  D.  Campbell,  who  represented  the 
Dayton,  Ohio,  district  as  a  delegate  in  the  Convention, 
offered  a  resolution  just  before  the  balloting  began,  to 
the  effect  that  "The  Convention  should  not  entertain  the 
candidacy  of  any  man  for  President  or  Vice  President, 
who  had  not  given  assurances  that  he  would  abide  by 
the  action  of  the  Convention,  that  he  would  accept  the 
nomination,  and  that  he  would  consider  himself  the 
candidate  of  the  Whig  party."  This  was  followed  by 
another  resolution  from  a  delegate  from  New  York, 
providing  that  no  man  should  be  nominated  for  presi- 
dent unless  he  stands  pledged  to  support,  in  good  faith, 
the  nominees,  and  to  be  the  exponent  of  Whig  prin- 
ciples. 


A     NEUTRAL    NOMINEE  39 

The  circumstances  attending  this  unusual  nomina- 
tion terminated  in  a  very  ludicrous  manner.  However 
loose  a  Contructionist  the  nominee  may  have  been  in 
either  public  or  political  affairs,  he  was  the  original 
strict  Constructionist  in  matters  of  propriety. 

Greatly  as  he  had  desired  the  nomination,  and 
delighted,  as  he  was,  to  have  received  it  from  any  party, 
he  felt  that  he  could  not  accept,  until  he  had  received 
formal  notification  in  writing,  of  the  coveted  honor. 
Upon  the  letter  of  notification,  which,  like  hundreds  of 
other  letters  that  were  addressed  to  the  nominee  from 
all  parts  of  the  country,  the  postage  had  not  been  paid, 
and  as  the  charges  on  these  communications  ranged 
from  ten  to  forty  cents  each,  he  refused  to  receive  any 
of  these  letters,  and  ordered  the  postmaster  to  send 
them  all  to  the  Dead  Letter  Office.  Tiresome  and 
fearful  as  was  their  long  journey  from  Philadelphia  to 
his  plantation  home,  the  Committee  on  Notification  was 
relieved,  and  the  party  rejoiced,  to  know  that  the 
hitherto  inexplicable  silence  of  their  chosen  leader  was 
attributable  to  the  strictest  observance  on  his  part  of  a 
rule  of  political  etiquette,  and  not  to  any  struggle  with 
himself  regarding  either  the  principles,  or  the  lack 
thereof,  either  in  himself,  or  the  party  of  his  adoption. 

Having  nominated  a  man  who  represented  no 
policy  or  principle,  the  Whigs  had,  of  course,  no  need  for 
a  platform.  A  resolution  favoring  the  adoption  of  the 
Wilmot  Proviso  was  howled  down,  and  the  Convention 
adjourned  in  great  confusion  and  disorder.  The  only 
thing  upon  which  they  were  able  to  agree  was  that  they 
wanted  to  win.  There  were  large  numbers  in  both 
parties  that  were  disgusted  with  these  nominations. 
Clay  declared  that  the  Philadelphia  Convention  had 
degraded  itself  and  had  dishonored  the  party,  and  took 
no  part  in  the  campaign.  Webster,  who  was  likewise 
mortified  by  his  own  defeat,  and  who  spoke  of  the 
nomination  of  Taylor  as  one  not  fit  to  be  made,  yielded 
late  in  the  campaign  to  the  demand  of  the  party 
managers,  and  supported  Taylor  only  because  he 


40  THE    WHIG    PARTY 

thought  it  safer  to  trust  a  slaveholder,  a  man  without 
known  political  principles,  and  the  party  that  had  not 
the  courage  of  its  convictions,  than  to  risk  another 
Democrat.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  delegate  to  this 
Convention,  and  in  his  characteristic  manner  he  wrote, 
upon  its  adjournment:  "In  my  opinion  we  shall  have  a 
most  glorious  and  overwhelming  triumph.  One  un- 
mistakable sign  is  that  all  the  odds  and  ends  are  with 
us,  Barn-Burners,  Native  Americans,  Tyler  men,  dis- 
appointed office  seekers,  Loco-Focos,  and  the  Lord  only 
knows  what  else." 

The  anti-slavery  Democrats,  who  were  dissatisfied 
with  the  nomination  of  Cass,  assembled  at  Buffalo, 
where  they  were  joined  by  the  old  Liberal  party,  and  a 
number  of  the  most  prominent,  but  disgusted  Whigs,  and 
nominated  Martin  Van  Buren  as  their  candidate  for 
president.  The  platform  of  the  new  party,  which  was 
largely  the  work  of  Salmon  P.  Chase,  declared  that 
"Congress  had  no  more  power  to  make  a  slave,  than  to 
make  a  king,"  and  concluded  with  these  ringing  words, 
"We  inscribe  on  our  banner,  "Free  Soil,  Free  Speech, 
Free  Labor  and  Free  Men,"  and  under  it  will  fight  on 
and  fight  ever,  until  a  triumphant  victory  shall  reward 


our  exertions." 


In  the  triangular  fight  that  followed  (the  first  in 
which  all  the  electors  were  chosen  by  ballot)  the  "Free 
Soilers,"  which  was  the  name  given  to  the  new  party, 
drew  most  of  their  support  from  the  Democrats.  The 
Whigs,  who  derived  the  greatest  benefit  from  the 
organization,  seemed  to  be  more  incensed  at  the  new 
party  than  the  Democrats,  probably  because  their 
candidate  was  the  more  insincere.  Taylor  was  elected 
by  a  majority  of  the  votes  of  fifteen  states,  eight  of 
which  were  from  the  South.  Cass  likewise  carried 
fifteen  states,  seven  of  which  were  from  the  South.  Van 
Buren  received  about  three  hundred  thousand  votes, 
but  did  not  carry  a  state,  although  in  New  York,  Massa- 
chusetts and  Vermont  he  received  more  votes  than 
Cass,  in  whose  defeat  he  found  a  solace  for  the  part  Cass 


THE    OMNIBUS    BILL  41 

had  taken  in  defeating  him  for  the  nomination  in  1840. 
Although  he  received  thirty-five  thousand  votes  in 
Ohio,  Cass  carried  the  state  largely  by  reason  of  the 
great  vote  he  received  in  the  Western  Reserve.  This 
was  the  first  of  the  third  party  movements  to  be  led  by 
an  ex-president.  That  the  experiment  was  not  as 
popular  in  certain  sections  of  the  country  as  in  the  last 
of  such  movements,  is  sufficiently  shown  in  the  fact 
that  in  all  that  great  Democratic  region,  extending  from 
Virginia  to  Texas  inclusive,  the  Sage  of  Kinderhook 
received  only  the  votes  of  seventeen  men. 

For  the  part  he  played  in  the  organization  of  the 
new  party,  Chase  was  elected  United  States  senator 
from  his  state,  by  the  commanding  generalship  of  two 
members  of  the  Legislature,  who  held  the  balance  of 
power  between  the  two  old  parties,  one  of  whom  was 
our  late  and  honored  friend,  Dr.  Norton  S.  Townshend. 

From  the  Congress  that  came  in  with  President 
Taylor,  no  one  knew  what  to  expect.  The  Senate  was 
Democratic,  while  the  House  was  so  evenly  divided  that 
the  balance  of  power  was  wielded  by  the  Free-Soilers. 
With  the  incoming  of  this  administration  begins  another 
transformation  of  parties,  which  in  a  short  time  de- 
stroyed the  one  completely,  and  changed  the  other  so 
radically,  that  out  of  the  process  was  evolved  a  new 
organization  that  soon  came  to  power,  for  having  done 
what  each  of  the  old  parties  had  so  carefully  refrained 
from  doing. 

The  application  of  California  for  admission  into 
the  Union,  with  a  constitution  prohibiting  slavery 
within  its  limits,  brought  all  the  contending  hosts 
again  to  the  field  in  a  more  hostile  state  of  mind  than 
ever  before.  The  struggle  that  followed  the  introduc- 
tion of  this  bill  is  the  greatest  political  contest  the  nation 
has  ever  known.  It  is  a  thrilling  chapter  that  describes 
the  passage  of  the  Compromise  Bill  of  1850.  No  cause 
was  ever  more  honorably  championed,  no  advocates 
more  earnest  and  eloquent.  The  three  great  central 
figures  of  debate, — Clay,  Webster  and  Calhoun, — met 


4»  THEWHIGPARTY 

together  for  the  last  time.  Clay  pleaded,  with  all  the 
powers  of  his  wonderful  eloquence,  for  peace.  His  one 
object  was  to  save  the  Union.  Of  the  North  he  asked 
concession;  upon  the  South  he  urged  moderation. 
Calhoun,  too  ill  to  speak,  came  from  his  chamber  to 
bear  witness  for  the  last  time  to  the  cause  of  his  people, 
and  against  further  compromise.  Webster  shocked  and 
startled  the  nation,  by  sacrificing  and  surrendering  his 
life-long  principles  to  the  slave  power,  in  the  delusive 
hope  of  at  last  reaching  the  presidency. 

It  is  a  wonder  that  out  of  such  a  discordant 
assembly  any  compromise  could  have  been  effected. 
The  several  provisions  of  the  measure  were  intended 
to  satisfy  all  parties  and  opinions.  The  provisions  were 
voted  on  separately,  and  it  was  difficult  to  trace  any 
definite  party  action  through  all.  Clay  was  supported 
by  such  Northern  men  as  Cass,  Webster  and  Douglass, 
and  such  Southern  Whigs  as  Bell  and  Badger.  Benton 
opposed  the  bill  and  supported  Taylor,  whose  stout 
insistence  upon  the  immediate  and  unconditional  ad- 
mission of  California  so  incensed  such  Southern  leaders 
as  Mason,  Soule  and  Jefferson  Davis  that  for  a  time  all 
hopes  of  a  settlement  seemed  to  be  lost.  President 
Taylor  died  in  the  midst  of  this  discussion,  shortly  after 
which,  with  the  co-operation  of  Fillmore,  who  reversed 
the  policy  of  his  predecessor,  the  Compromise  became 
the  law  of  the  land.  The  enactment  of  this  legislation, 
which  it  was  thought  settled  the  slavery  question, 
temporarily  strengthened  the  Democratic  party.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Whigs  were  losing  ground  in  all 
parts  of  the  country. 

For  a  little  time  now,  there  were  no  party  contests 
in  Congress ;  both  Democrats  and  Whigs  gradually  sup- 
porting the  administration.  With  the  approach  of 
another  election,  the  Whigs  attempted  to  unite  their 
scattered  forces  by  agreeing  to  accept  the  Compromise 
as  a  finality,  but  the  results  were  unsatisfactory.  The 
Southern  representatives  after  much  discussion  declared 
that  they  would  support  no  man  for  the  presidency 


A    HOUSE    DIVIDED  43 

whose  principles  were  not  plainly  defined,  and  who  did 
not  accept  the  Compromise  as  they  accepted  it.  To 
find  a  candidate,  therefore,  acceptable  to  the  majority, 
was  no  small  undertaking. 

The  Convention  was  held  early  in  June.  Strange 
to  say  the  first  act  of  the  assemblage  was  to  adopt  a 
platform.  This  was  the  work  of  the  Southern  delegates. 
It  declared  that  the  series  of  acts  of  the  thirty-first 
Congress,  including  the  "Fugitive  Slave  Law,"  were 
received  and  acquiesced  in  by  the  Whig  party  as  a 
settlement,  in  principle  and  substance,  of  the  dangerous 
and  exciting  questions  which  they  embrace,  and  as  far 
as  we  are  concerned,  we  will  maintain  them  and  insist 
upon  their  strict  enforcement  until  time  and  experience 
shall  demonstrate  the  necessity  of  further  legislation  to 
guard  against  the  evasion  of  the  laws  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  abuse  of  their  powers  on  the  other,  not  impair- 
ing their  efficiency,  and  further,  "to  frown  down  all 
further  agitation  of  the  question  thus  settled  as  danger- 
ous to  our  business,"  etc. 

In  return  for  this  favor,  the  Southern  Whigs,  who 
controlled  the  Convention,  permitted  their  Northern 
brothers  to  name  the  candidate.  After  six  days'  ballot- 
ing, in  which  the  friends  of  Fillmore  and  Webster  were 
unable  to  decide  as  to  which  should  be  nominated,  the 
Convention  agreed  upon  General  Scott,  a  man  in  whom 
the  South  had  little  confidence,  but  who  was  ready  to 
accept  on  any  platform  that  might  be  made.  Of  the  147 
votes  necessary  for  a  choice,  the  Southern  delegates 
agreed  to  cast  106  for  Webster  at  any  time  he  could 
obtain  the  other  41  from  his  Northern  supporters. 
Hopeless,  as  everyone  but  himself  felt  this  would  be, 
Webster  was  confident  to  the  last,  that  he  would  be 
nominated.  To  this  Convention,  Clay,  from  his  death- 
bed, addressed  the  party  of  his  choice  and  creation  for 
the  last  time.  Whether  in  urging  his  faction-ridden 
followers  to  support  Fillmore,  he  hoped  the  more  to 
serve  his  country  than  to  humiliate  Webster,  this  action 
on  his  part  added  nothing  to  the  peace  of  mind  of  either 


44  THE    WHIG    PARTY 

of  these  great  leaders,  and  provoked  a  controversy 
among  their  followers  that  was  not  allowed  to  end  with 
their  lives.  "My  God!"  exclaimed  Webster  when  he 
was  informed  that  Scott  had  been  selected,  "what  will 
history  say  of  Daniel  Webster?" 

In  the  bitterness  of  this  final  and  overwhelming 
disappointment  that  had  come  to  him,  Webster  wrote 
two  weeks  before  his  death : 

"I  have  now  to  state  to  you  that  no  earthly  considera- 
tion could  induce  me  to  say  anything,  or  do  anything,  from 
which  it  might  be  inferred,  directly  or  indirectly,  that  I  con- 
cur in  the  Baltimore  nomination,  or  that  I  should  give  it  in 
any  way  the  santcion  of  my  approbation.  If  I  were  to  do 
such  an  act,  I  should  feel  my  cheeks  becoming  scorched  with 
shame  by  the  reproach  of  posterity.' ' 

The  party  was  now  ready  for  its  last  charge.  The 
Democrats  named  Franklin  Pierce  of  New  Hampshire, 
another  Compromise  man  upon  a  platform,  as  com- 
promising, to  say  the  least,  as  that  of  the  Whigs.  The 
Free-Soil  Democrats  in  their  platform  denounced  the 
Compromise  of  1850,  and  both  parties  that  supported 
it,  and  declared  that  slavery  was  a  sin  against  God  and 
a  crime  against  man.  Divided  as  they  were,  the  Whigs 
had  no  chance  whatever  of  winning  the  election,  a  fact 
that  every  one,  excepting  their  candidate  seemed  to 
realize. 

The  time  had  come  and  was  now  at  hand  when,  as 
stated  a  little  later  by  one  of  the  most  brilliant  members 
of  their  party,  the  voters  "would  join  themselves  to  no 
party  that  does  not  carry  the  flag  and  keep  step  to  the 
music  of  the  Union." 

The  Southern  members  of  the  party  were  ready  to 
sacrifice  the  candidate  to  save  the  platform,  while  the 
Northern  members  were  ready  to  renounce  the  platform 
for  the  sake  of  the  candidate.  The  Democrats  were  just 
as  bad,  but  they  were  better  trained  and  disciplined. 
Pierce  received  two  hundred  and  fifty-four  electoral 
votes  against  forty-two  for  Scott.  General  Scott  was 
not  only  defeated,  but  the  Whig  party  was  destroyed, 


"ONE  FLEW  EAST,  AND  ONE  FLEW  WEST"  45 

and  the  former  showed  his  unconcern  in  the  whole 
matter  when  he  said  he  was  glad  of  it  all. 

There  were  still  many  Whigs  in  the  country,  but 
the  party  organization  was  no  more.  In  the  thirty-third 
Congress  which  assembled  in  December,  1853,  there 
were  ninety-one  members.  In  the  succeeding  Congress, 
there  were  less  than  one-half  that  number. 

Adams,  Clay  and  Webster  were  in  their  graves. 
Winthrop,  Ewing  and  Corwin  were  in  retirement. 
Fillmore  was  the  leader  of  the  Know  Nothing  move- 
ment. Tyler  and  Choate  were  affiliated  with  the  party 
of  Jefferson,  which  was  again  all  powerful. 

There  was  opposition  continually,  but  it  was  dis- 
united, and,  for  a  time,  discredited  and  demoralized. 
There  were  Free-Soilers,  Know  Nothings,  Anti-Nebras- 
ka Men,  Native  Americans,  Pro-Slavery  Whigs,  and 
finally,  what  came  from  all  of  these, — a  party  which  was 
shortly  to  prove  the  greatest  rival  the  old  party  had 
ever  met.  The  part  taken  by  the  few  genuine  Whigs  in 
the  discussions  that  made  Pierce's  administration  a 
troublesome  one,  is  unimportant.  In  1856  they  made 
no  nomination,  ratifying  in  a  perfunctory  manner  the 
nominations  of  the  Know  Nothing  party,  which  combi- 
nation mustered  only  enough  strength  to  carry  the  state 
of  Maryland.  After  this  the  party  is  known  only  to 
history. 

In  conclusion  there  is  but  little  to  be  said.  Ac- 
cording to  Theodore  Roosevelt 

"The  principles  of  the  Whigs  were  hazily  outlined  at 
the  best,  and  the  party  was  never  a  very  creditable  organiza- 
tion; indeed,  through  its  entire  career,  it  could  most  easily 
be  defined  as  an  opposition  to  the  Democratic  party.  It 
was  a  Free  Constructionists  party,  believing  in  giving  a 
liberal  interpretation  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Constitution, — 
otherwise,  its  principles  were  purely  economic." 

It  was  rich  in  able  men,  yet  it  advanced  no  settled, 
or  sound  policy  of  government.  It  was  poorly  discip- 
lined, and  was  as  lacking  in  political  sagacity,  as  we  know 
the  Federalist  party  to  have  been.  It  oscillated  con- 


46  THE    WHIG    PARTY 

tinually  between  principle  and  expediency  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  throw  away  every  advantage  that  it  might 
otherwise  have  enjoyed.  It  existed  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  In  that  time  it  held  but  one  representative 
convention,  ventured  but  once  to  nominate  for  the 
presidency  a  candidate  with  any  avowed  political  prin- 
ciples, and  adopted  but  two  platforms.  It  acted  but 
once  in  unison  as  a  party,  and  this  was  from  personal 
rather  than  political  reasons.  After  the  slavery  question 
became  the  dominating  issue  before  the  country,  its 
economic  doctrines  were  well  nigh  forgotten,  and  upon 
this  question  it  could  neither  write,  speak  nor  keep 
silent,  without  injuring  itself,  more  than  the  opposition 
party.  It  died,  as  one  of  its  own  members  said,  "  From 
an  effort  to  swallow  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law." 


LIBRARy 


4  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


